"Now," said Bub, unwinking, "I ain't afeard o' you no more."




V


Awaiting dinner, the mountaineer and the "furriner" sat on the
porch while Bub carved away at another pine dagger on the stoop.
As Hale passed out the door, a querulous voice said "Howdye" from
the bed in the corner and he knew it was the step-mother from whom
the little girl expected some nether-world punishment for an
offence of which he was ignorant. He had heard of the feud that
had been going on between the red Falins and the black Tollivers
for a quarter of a century, and this was Devil Judd, who had
earned his nickname when he was the leader of his clan by his
terrible strength, his marksmanship, his cunning and his courage.
Some years since the old man had retired from the leadership,
because he was tired of fighting or because he had quarrelled with
his brother Dave and his foster-brother, Bad Rufe--known as the
terror of the Tollivers--or from some unknown reason, and in
consequence there had been peace for a long time--the Falins
fearing that Devil Judd would be led into the feud again, the
Tollivers wary of starting hostilities without his aid. After the
last trouble, Bad Rufe Tolliver had gone West and old Judd had
moved his family as far away as possible. Hale looked around him:
this, then, was the home of Devil Judd Tolliver; the little
creature inside was his daughter and her name was June. All around
the cabin the wooded mountains towered except where, straight