And as old Judd said, no
Tolliver had ever been sentenced and no jury of mountain men, he
well knew, could be found who would convict a Tolliver, for there
were no twelve men in the mountains who would dare. And so the
Tollivers decided to await the outcome of the trial and rest easy.
But they did not count on the mettle and intelligence of the grim
young "furriners" who were a flying wedge of civilization at the
Gap. Straightway, they gave up the practice of law and banking and
trading and store-keeping and cut port-holes in the brick walls of
the Court House and guarded town and jail night and day. They
brought their own fearless judge, their own fearless jury and
their own fearless guard. Such an abstract regard for law and
order the mountaineer finds a hard thing to understand. It looked
as though the motive of the Guard was vindictive and personal, and
old Judd was almost stifled by the volcanic rage that daily grew
within him as the toils daily tightened about Rufe Tolliver.
Every happening the old man learned through the Red Fox, who, with
his huge pistols, was one of the men who escorted Rufe to and from
Court House and jail--a volunteer, Hale supposed, because he hated
Rufe; and, as the Tollivers supposed, so that he could keep them
advised of everything that went on, which he did with secrecy and
his own peculiar faith.
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