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Old Spicer South would ten years ago have put a bandage on his wound

and gone about his business, but now he tossed under his patchwork

quilt, and Brother Spencer expressed grave doubts for his recovery

With his counsel unavailable Wile McCager, by coent and took upon himself the duties

to which Samson should have succeeded

That a Hollman should have been able to elude the pickets and

penetrate the heart of South territory to Spicer South's cabin, was

both astounding and alar The as on without question now, and

there er had sent out a summons for the

family heads to meet that afternoon at his mill It was Saturday--"mill

day"--and in accordance with ancient custom the lanes would be on road afforded no unusual spectacle,

for behind each saddle sagged a sack of grain Their faces bore no

stamp of unwonted excitement, but every man balanced a rifle across his

poriathered was to the point

Old McCager, himself sorely perplexed, voiced the sentiment that the

others had been too courteous to express With Spicer South bed-ridden