ntiment
seemed only to bring a more fiery hotness to his words and his voice.

"I made this licker myself," he declared. "I made hit up thar in ther
thickets. My paw lies in jail now fer doin' ther same thing. Many's
ther night--an' ther day, too--thet I've laid up thar drunk with ther
pizen thet I've brewed--but no man will ever see me drunk ergin!

"I've carried this flask in my pocket whar I could feel hit a-layin'
against my heart--ever since ther day I quit. I've carried hit thar so
thet thar wouldn't never be a time, day or night, when hit couldn't hev
ther chance ter lick me, ef so be hit proved bigger an' stronger then
me. I wasn't askin' no favors of ther worm of ther still--an' now I
hain't a-goin' ter give hit none! Thar's been times when my throat
scalded me an' my belly tormented me--when I felt like as ef I'd burn
an' shrivel ef I didn't uncork hit an' drink. But I hain't never teched
hit since then--an' now I kin laugh at hit. Now I know that Satan
helped me ter make hit--an' I'm a-goin' ter make war on hit till I
stomps hit out or hit kills me!"

Bear Cat Stacy, with that quick gesture so often seen in the hills,
raised the flask to his mouth and jerked out the cork with his
teeth--then he spat the stopper out of his mouth, and with hand again
raised high, inverted the flask so that the contents gurgled out in a
thin stream and, in the dead silence, the blubbering sound of the
emptying was as if the thing itself was giving up its life with a sob
of protest.

Then dashing down the bottle and shattering it on the rocks, the young
man broke out with a crescendo of vehemence.

"What you men hev seed me do with thet-thar flask of blockade licker
thet I made myself, ye're a-goin' ter see me do in like fashion with
all the rest this side of Cedar Mounting. Ye're a-goin' ter see me lift
ther curse thet's been on us like a lunacy an' a pestilence. Ye're
goin' ter see me smash every flask an' every bottle. Ye're goin' ter
see me empty out every jug an' knock in ther head of every kag an'
barrel, twell ther spleen of meanness an' murder runs out with ther
licker--an' a peace comes thet kin hope ter endure."

Then with abrupt and climacteric effect he wheeled and shouted to
someone who stood unseen behind the angular shoulder of the rock
itself. The next moment he lifted up and set down at his feet a spiral
thing of copper tubing which caught on its burnished coils the
brightness of the sun and gave back a re