ession ov 'em,
and stir 'em up ter do all manner o' cruelty ter conquer us inter jinin'
in with 'em. The Brills an' Fortners hed allers been leaders agin the
other people, an' now the Rebels hissed their white slaves onter our men,
ez one sets dogs onter steers in the corn. The chief man among 'em wuz
Kunnel Bill Pennington."

Harry looked up with a start.

"Yes, the same one who got his reward yesterd," she continued,
interpreting the expression of his eyes. "The Penningtons air the
richest family this side o' Danville. They an' the Brills an' Fortners
hev allers been mortal enemies. Thar's bin blood shed in ev'ry
gineration. Kunnel Bill's father limpt ter his grae on 'count of a
bullet in his hip, which wuz lodged thar soon arter I'd flung on the
floor a ten dollar gold piece he'd crowded inter my hand at a dance,
where he'd come 'ithout ary invite. The bullet wuz from teh rifle ov a
young man named David Brill, thet I married the next day, jest ez he wuz
startin' fur Mexico. He volunteered a little airlier then he'd intended,
fur his father's wheat wuz not nearly all harvested, but hit wuz thot
best ter git himself out o' the way o' the Penningtons, who wuz a mouty
revengeful family, an' besides they then hed the law on ther side. Ez
soon ez he come back from teh war Ole Kunnel Bill, an' Young Kunnel
Bill, an' all the rest o' the Pennington clan an' connection begun
watchin' fur a chance ter git even with him. The Ole Kunnel used ter vow
an' swar thet he'd never leave the airth ontil Dave Brill wuz under the
clods o' the valley. But he hed ter go last year, spite o' hisself, an'
leave David Brill 'live an' well an' becomin' more an' more lookt up ter
ev'ry day by the people, while the Penningtons war gittin' wuss and wuss
hated. We hed a son, too, the very apple of our eyes, who wuz growin' up
jest like his father----"

The quaver of an ill-repressed sob blurred her tones. She closed her
eyes firmly, as if to choke back the brimming tears, and then rising
from her seat, busied herself brushing the coals and ashes back into the
fire.

"Thet walnut pops so awfully," she said, "thet a body hez to sweep
nearly ev'ry minnit ter keep the harth at all clean."

"The death of his father made no change in the younger Col. Pennington?
He kept up the quarrel the same as ever, did he?" asked Harry, deeply
interested in teh narrative.

"Wussen ever! Wussen ever! He got bitterer ev'ry day. He laid his defeat
when he wuz run