The Mountain School-TeacherPost, Melville Davisson
General
The Mountain School-Teacher
Post, Melville Davisson
Fiction
And now some more effective measures must be found. The sheriff, when
the minister informed him of the occupancy of Nicholas Parks' estate by
this stranger, had caused a proceeding to be instituted in the circuit
court, and had obtained an order restraining any one from entering on
the lands of Nicholas Parks until the right of the state thereto could
be determined. This order had been posted on the door of Nicholas Parks'
house. But this order, like the one on the door of the schoolhouse, the
stranger had not regarded.
It was evident that a firmer step must be taken.
Two plans were available. As the School-teacher had continued to remain
on Nicholas Parks' lands after the restraining order had been posted on
the door, the sheriff could apply to the circuit judge for a _rule_ and
cause him to be brought before the court and imprisoned for contempt.
The second plan was for the doctor to go before a justice of the peace
and take out a warrant against the School-teacher charging him with
practicing medicine without a license.
These two plans were now under discussion in the empty, dimly lighted
church.
The little hand oil lamps had been put out except one on a wooden
bracket by the door, and the one smoking on the table before the altar.
The silence, the empty church, or something in the atmosphere of the
place, caused the men to draw together and to discuss the matter in
undertones.
The minister sat with his back to the altar.
On the bench beside him was his hat containing the money which he had
collected from the congregation at the close of the service. On
either side were the doctor and the sheriff. The latter's big hump now
prominent as he leaned over the table. The minister led the discussion,
and they remained for some time thus, in conference. The minister's
defective eye batting, the doctor's crooked arm on the table, and the
sheriff's back throwing its humped shadow against the wall.
Finally it was determined that the sheriff should go before the court
on Thursday and obtain the _rule_ upon which the School-teacher could
be arrested and brought down out of the mountain. At the same time the
doctor should take out his warrant before the justice of the peace, so
it might be available in case the circuit judge should not commit the
Schoolteacher upon the proceeding for contempt.
This plan having been settled upon, it became necessary to consider how
the arrest should be made.
The sheriff could send his deputy, who served legal papers in the
county, but the deputy had never seen the School-teacher and did not
know him. And, besides this, if the School-teacher resisted, and those
about him should come to his support, there might be considerable
trouble to take him. One man conducting a prisoner through the mountains
in the night might easily be compelled to release him. Moreover,
the deputy, knowing the danger of making an arrest in the mountain
districts, could not be got to go up alone.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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