Oh, it was all
crazy stuff! But he and the others had justified themselves; and they
had no notion of standing for what Buckheath was after. I was one of the
cotton-mill men to them; they had no personal malice.
"Through the long evenings when Groner or Dawson or Will Venters was
guarding me--or maybe all three of them--we used to talk; and it
surprised me to find how simple and childish those fellows were. They
were as kind to me as though I had been a brother, and treated me
courteously always.
"Little by little, I got at the whole thing from them. It seems that
Buckheath took advantage of the feeling there was in the mountains
against the mill men on account of the hospital and some other matters.
He went up there and interviewed anybody that he thought might join him
in a vendetta. I imagine he found plenty of them that were ready to talk
and some that were willing to do; but it chanced that Dawson and Jesse
Groner were coming down to Cottonville that morning I passed Buckheath
at the Hardwick gate, and he must have cut across the turn and followed
me, intending to pick a quarrel. Then he met Dawson and Groner and
framed up this other plan with their assistance.
"Uncle Pros, I want you to help me out. If Buckheath has to stand trial,
how are we--any of us--going to testify without making it hard on the
Dawson crowd? I expect to live here the rest of my days.
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