The Call of the Cumberlands

"I am Captain Callomb of F Company," said the officer. "I'm riding

over to Spicer South's house. Did you come to meet me?"

"To meet and guide you," replied a pleasant voice. "My name is Samson

South."

The militiaman stared. This man whose countenance was calmly

thoughtful scarcely comported with the descriptions he had heard of the

"Wildcat of the Mountains"; the man who had come home straight as a

storm-petrel at the first note of tempest, and marked his coming with

double murder. Callomb had been too busy to read newspapers of late. He

had heard only that Samson had "been away."

While he wondered, Samson went on: "I'm glad you came. If it had been possible I would have come to you."

As he told of the letter he had written the Judge, volunteering to

present himself as a witness, the officer's wonder grew.

"They said that you had been away," suggested Callomb. "If it's not an

impertinent question, what part of the mountains have you been visiting?"

Samson laughed.

"Not any part of the mountains," he said. "I've been living chiefly in

New York--and for a time in Paris."

Callomb drew his horse to a dead halt.

"In the name of God," he incredulously asked, "what manner of man are

you?"

"I hope," came the instant reply, "it may be summed up by saying that

I'm exactly the opposite of the man you've had described for you back

there at Hixon."

"I knew it," exclaimed the soldier, "I knew that I was being fed on

lies! That's why I came. I wanted to get the straight of it, and I felt

that the solution lay over here."

They rode the rest of the way in deep conversation. Samson outlined

his ambitions for his people. He told, too, of the scene that had been

enacted at Purvy's store. Callomb listened with absorption, feeling

that the narrative bore axiomatic truth on its face.

At last he inquired: "Did you succeed up there--as a painter?"

"That's a long road," Samson told him, "but I think I had a fair

start. I was getting commissions when I left."

"Then, I am to understand"--the officer met the steady gray eyes and

put the question like a cross-examiner bullying a witness--"I am to

understand that you deliberately put behind you a career to come down

here and herd these fence-jumping sheep?"