th a note of deep sorrow in his
voice, "I 'lowed ye hed ahead of ye a right hopeful future. I 'lowed
ye'd be a leader--but ye kain't lead men contrarywise ter doctrines
thet they fed on at thar mothers' breasts. I've always kind of hed ther
notion thet someday ye'd go down thar ter Frankfort an' set in ther
legislature ... but ter-day ye've done flung away ther loyalty of men
that bragged about ye an' war ready ter die, follerin' ye."

"I reckon they kin find plenty of men ter lead 'em _thet_ way,--round
an' round in circles thet don't git nowhars," came the defiant
response. "Thet hain't ther sort of leadership I craves."

"Hit hain't thet I holds no love fer blockade 'stillin'," explained the
older man seriously. "I got my belly full a long time back--an' quit.
Ef ye could stomp hit out, I'd say do hit--but ye kain't. Ye hain't
jest seekin' ter t'ar out stills--ye're splittin' up yore own blood
inter factions an' warfare. Thar hain't nothin' kin come outen hit all,
save fer ye ter be diskivered some day a-layin' stretched out in a
creek-bed road, with a bullet bored through yore body."

Bear Cat only shook his head with stubborn insistence. "Ye don't raise
no crop," he declared, "twell ye've done cl'ared ther ground, an' ef
ther snags goes deep hit takes dynamite."

"Then I kain't dissuade ye? Ye aims ter go ahead with hit?"

"I aims ter go ahead with hit twell I finishes my job or gets kilt
tryin'."

"Then thar hain't nuthin' left ter do but bid ye farewell. Ye've done
made yoreself a hard bed. In a fashion I honors ye fer hit, but I
pities ye, too. Ye've done signed yore own doom."

"I thanks ye," said Bear Cat gravely. "But I hain't askin' pity yit."

In the yard where so many feet had been tramping there was now total
emptiness. The flock of geese still waddled and squawked down by the
creek, but by the gate Bear Cat stood alone--a man who had forfeited
his heritage.

The sun was setting and the ache of recent wounds and fatigue was
accentuated by the rawness of approaching twilight. Beyond the trickle
of prattling water, went up the frowning and unchanging hills, bleak
and sinister with their ancient contempt for change. Bear Cat Stacy
threw back his head.

"They don't see nothin' in me but brag an' foolishness," he bitterly
admitted, "but afore God I aims ter show 'em thet thar's more in me
then thet!"

Already a plan for the first chapter of his undertaking had fully
evolved itself and it was a th