land his by right of possession. The bill continues as
follows:

"Preston Huff, who was the desperado heretofore referred to, publicly
proclaimed that he had fought for the land, had run the McGinnises from
the county, and if anyone bid for the land against him he would kill him
on sight. Even his co-conspirators would not brook his displeasure. The
land was sold on his bid, no one dared oppose him. The history of his
career shows it was wisdom to shun him. Many have been killed by him in
the most cold and brutal manner."

There came to Pall Mall, when General Burnside was moving his Federal
forces southward, a young man by the name of William Brooks. He had
joined the Union Army at his home in Michigan. He was a daring horseman,
handsome, fair and his hair was red-a rich copperesque red. The army
moved on, but young Brooks remained in the valley. He claimed that as a
private soldier he had done more than his share in the conquest of the
South--and that the conquest that should ever go to his credit was the
conquest of Nancy Pile.

When they were married, his father-in-law, Elijah Pile, gave him a farm
and he tilled it, and he smiled his way into the favor of the community.

He lived in the valley about two years, and a baby had been born to
them. The feeling between the children of Elijah Pile and Pres Huff was
silent but tense; over it there fell constantly the shadow of the murder
of Jeff Pile.

Meeting down at the old mill one day, Pres Huff and "Willie" Brooks
engaged in an excited argument. Between the dark-browed, sullen
mountaineer and the slender, gay young man a contest seemed uneven, and
was prevented. Huff told Brooks that the next time they met he would
kill him.

They met next day, on the mountainside, on the road that leads by the
Brooks home, on across the spring-branch, up beside the York home and
then up the mountain. Huff's riderless horse galloped on and stopped in
front of a mountain cabin; his body lay dead in the road.

There was a hurried consultation at the home of Elijah Pile. Huff's
friends, it was realized, would not be long in coming. Young Brooks went
out of the house, down by the spring, and up the mountain back of it. He
was never seen in the valley again.

Huff's friends waited.

Weeks afterward, Nancy Brooks, carrying her baby, went to visit a
friend. She evaded the watchfulness of her husband's enemies, succeeded
in crossing the Kentucky line and disappeared in the mountain