an' they talked to the
Dwarfs over the river, an' asked them to build a bridge, an' the Dwarfs
said they couldn't build it unless the river devils was bought off. Then
the folks |asked how to buy off them river devils, an' the Dwarfs said
to throw in a thimble full of human blood an' spit in the river. So, one
night the folks done it, an' next morning them logs was acrost."

The spectacles of the old woman were fastened around her head with a
shoestring. She removed them by lifting the shoestring over her head,
polished them for a moment on her linsey dress and set them back on her
nose.

"Then," she went on, "the devilment was done. Just like it allers is
when people gits smarter than the blessed God. The Dwarfs crost over an'
rid the horses in the night an' sucked the cows, an' made faces at the
women so the children was cross-eyed. An' the folks tried to throw down
the bridge an' couldn't do it because the Dwarfs had put a spell on them
logs."

She stopped and jerked her thumb toward the river. "Did you ever hear
tell of old Jimmy Radcliff?" she asked.

We had heard of the old-time millwright, and said so.

"Well," she went on, "they was a-layin' a floor in that bridge oncet,
an' old Jimmy got tight on b'iled cider, an' 'low'd he'd turn one of
them logs over. So he chucked a crowbar under one of 'em an' begun
a-pryin', an' all at oncet that crowbar flew out of his hand an' old
Jimmy fell through, an' the men cotched him by his wampus an' it took
four of 'em to pull him up, because, they said, it felt like somethin'
was a-holdin' his legs."

"I reckon," said Ump, "it was the cider in Jimmy's legs. If there had
been anything holdin', they could have seen it."

"'Tain't so certain," said Aunt Peggy, wagging her head, "'tain't so
certain. There's many a thing a-holdin' in the world that you can't
see." And she turned around in the door and went stumping back to her
loom.

We rode south in no light-hearted mood. Again we had met the far-sighted
cunning of Hawk Rufe, in a trap baited by a master, and had slipped from
under it by no skill of ours. Had we missed those last words of Patsy,
flung back like an angry taunt, I should have believed the tale about my
brother and hurried north, if all the cattle in the Hills had gone to
the devil. It was a master move, that lie, and I began to see the
capacity of these dangerous men. This was merely an outpost strategy,
laid as they passed along. What would it be when we