Raymond S. Spears

“ Clint exclaimed. "I ain't never looked for trouble with any man. I'm peaceable, but they am' no man can run me around like your dad 'lows to do. I'll shore shoot, if he draws down his gun, I shore will!" ”

“ The question and the way it was put were so unexpected that Campbell was abashed. The next moment the accumulated wrath of years welled from his heart, and he cursed the family and the son of the woman whom he had loved in his youth.
"That patched an' gangling boy of yourn'll shore git hurt if he don' keep away from my gal!" he exclaimed. "I get betteh ideas than havin" her marryin' inteh side-hill pone-eaters, an' I tell ye naow. my gal's got a sweetheart as has money an' clothes an' sense, he shore has! An' you keep that Clint Tazewell home, I tell ye!" ”

“ Will he let that man beat him up again? He cayn't fight him with his fists."
Most of them thought Clint would shrink from fighting the man, knowing how many relatives there were to take up the quarrel if Clint should "go to war"—use his rifle, that is. But some few, Laura among the rest, feared that Clint had just that courage—the courage that would not count the odds against him. ”

“ I don' want no hawd feelin's, bec'ase I'm goin' to marry that gal of your'n, yasseh! I'll shore do hit, even if 1 have to shoot the hull Campbell family easy!"
"I 'low I cayn't help hit. Clint," Campbell exclaimed. "You was plumb reasonable with me, yasseh! Thankee, lad, I'll ride yer mare home. They ain' no hawd feelin's no moh. Tell you' mah I asts her pawdon. I've be'n mighty onmannerly with her."
Steadying the man in the saddle, Clint helped him homeward. When they arrived at Campbell's house the two women were roused from their despair by a shout. ”