d glitter.

"Ther day of hills enslaved by a copper sarpint hes done come to an
end!" he declared in a passion-shaken voice. "I aims ter do ter every
cursed one of 'em this side of Cedar Mountain what I'm goin' ter do ter
this one, hyar an' now!"

He seized up an axe which had been lying at his feet and swung it above
his head. Poised in that posture of arrested action, his final words
were defiantly thundered out.

"I've done took my oath ter hang these things like dead snakes along
ther highway fer all men ter see. They stands accountable fer poverty
an' squalor an' bloodshed. Because of ther pestilence they've brought
an' ther prosperity they've turned away--they've got ter go."

The ax crashed down in stroke after stroke upon the coiled thing at his
feet, gashing it into destruction as the crowd broke into a restive
shuffling of feet and looked on in dismay--as yet too dumfounded for
open protest.

"My God, Bear Cat's done gone crazed," whispered a man on the outskirts
of the crowd. "He's plumb fittified."

Slowly the spell of astonishment began to give way to a fuller
realization of the heresy that had been preached and which had appalled
them by its audacity. Comparatively few of them were actual moonshiners
but at other times many of them had been--and their spirit was defense
of their institutions. Yet the face of this young man, bred to their
own traditions, was fired with an ardor amazingly convincing and
dauntless. In many of the elder heads had glimmered a germ of the same
thought that Bear Cat had put into hot words; glimmered in transient
consideration, to be thrust back because the daring needed for its
expression was lacking. Here was Bear Cat Stacy boldly proclaiming his
revolutionary purpose in advance because he wished to be fair;
announcing that if need arose he would wage war on his enemies and his
friends alike in its fulfilment. It would take a bold spirit to
volunteer aid--and yet there were those whose only objection to the
crusade was its mad impracticability. There were others, too, who, as
Bear Cat had prophesied, would fight such vandal menace to the death.

So, after the first spell-bound pause, a threatening growl ran through
the crowd and then like a magpie chorus broke and swelled the babel of
discussion. Out of it came a dominating note of disappointment--almost
disgust--for the leader to whom they had loyally rallied. Kinnard
Towers stood for a while appraising their temper, th