nly half an explanation. The statement that our highlanders
are not hostile to law and order must be qualified to this extent: they
have a profound distrust of the courts. The mountaineer is not only a
born fighter but he is also litigious by nature and tradition. A
stranger will be surprised to find how deeply the average backwoodsman
is versed in the petty subtleties of legal practice. It comes from
experience. "Court-week" draws bigger crowds than a circus. The
mountaineer who has never served as juror, witness, or principal in a
lawsuit is a curiosity. And this familiarity has bred secret contempt. I
violate no confidence in saying that many a mountaineer would hold up
one hand to testify his respect for the law while the other hand hovered
over his pistol.

Why so?

Just because his experience has taught him (rightly or wrongly--but he
firmly believes it) that courts are swayed by sinister influences when
important matters are at stake. Those influences are clan money and clan
votes. Hence, if he or a kinsman be involved in "lawin'" with a member
of some rival tribe, he does not look for impartial treatment, but
prepares to fight cunning with cunning, local influence with local
influence. There are no moral obligations here. "All's fair in love and
war"--and this is one form of war.

If the reader will take down his _David Balfour_ and read the intrigues,
plots, and counterplots of David's attorneys and those of the Crown, he
will grasp our own highlanders' viewpoint.

[Illustration: Photo by Arthur Keith

The road follows the Creek.--There may be a dozen fords in a mile.]

That mountain courts are often impotent is due in part to the
limitations under which their officers are obliged to serve. For
example, in the judicial district where I reside, the solicitor
(State's attorney) receives nothing but fees, and then only _in case
of conviction_. It might seem that this would stir him to extra zeal,
and perhaps it does; but he has a large circuit, there are no local
officials specially interested in securing evidence for him while the
case is white-hot, everything spurs the defendant to get rid of
dangerous witnesses before the solicitor can get at them, public opinion
is extremely lenient toward homicides, and man-slayers so often get off
scot-free after the most faithful and laborious efforts of the
solicitor, that he becomes discouraged.

The sheriff, too, serves without salary, getting only fees and a