“I don’t propose to get into a controversy with the court,” he said; “we might as well take our things back to the river. Judging from past experiences we won’t be able to resume work here before snow flies, anyway.” He started back toward the mouth of the gap. The sheriff, having just entered his wagon and turned his horses’ noses westward, bowed politely as the contractor passed. Nicholson was still standing where the sheriff found him, studying angrily the contents of the writ. After a minute or two, he folded the paper savagely, thrust it into his pocket, and started back up the road. When Gabriel, who had stood for fifteen minutes in complete readiness to do his employer’s will, saw the backs of their enemies turned to them and in retreat, he could not repress some outward manifestation of his inward exultation; whereupon he drew his faithful horn from his pocket, and blew on it a blast that sent the echoes tumbling through the glen. “Put up that fool’s plaything!” commanded the old man. Ten minutes later Dannie and his grandfather walked back up the road with far lighter hearts than when they came down. The graveyard had been saved, at least for the present, from despoliation, and Abner Pickett felt confident that through the medium of the law and its peaceful operation, he could defeat any future plans of aggression by the railroad companies. But, after the stirring events of the first day of October, there was no attempt on the part of either company to begin the construction of a railroad, or to take possession of any property along the line of survey. All parties were quietly awaiting the determination of the equity suit begun by the injunction proceedings. And that suit could not come on for trial before the December term of court.