So
that the two people most talked about among the Tollivers and,
through Loretta, among the Falins as well, were June and Hale, and
at the Gap similar talk would come. Already Hale's name was on
every tongue in the town, and there, because of his recent
purchases of town-site land, he was already, aside from his
personal influence, a man of mysterious power.
Meanwhile, the prescient shadow of the coming "boom" had stolen
over the hills and the work of the Guard had grown rapidly.
Every Saturday there had been local lawlessness to deal with. The
spirit of personal liberty that characterized the spot was
traditional. Here for half a century the people of Wise County and
of Lee, whose border was but a few miles down the river, came to
get their wool carded, their grist ground and farming utensils
mended. Here, too, elections were held viva voce under the
beeches, at the foot of the wooded spur now known as Imboden Hill.
Here were the muster-days of wartime. Here on Saturdays the people
had come together during half a century for sport and horse-
trading and to talk politics. Here they drank apple-jack and hard
cider, chaffed and quarrelled and fought fist and skull.
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