Once there, they were not long content merely to find a hiding place
from the wrath of broken law and outraged civilization. They were soon
seeking and finding opportunity to commit other and worse offences. It
was no longer a secret that regular stations of outlawry were firmly
established between Natchez on the one side and Duff's Fort, on the
other. The most dreaded of these were known to be within the new state's
border along the line of the Wilderness Road, although the law had not
been able to lay its hand upon them. And thus was southern Kentucky now
bound, blinded and helpless, in a long, strong, bloody chain of crime.
It was knowing this and feeling his own responsibility and powerlessness
that made the judge's good-humored face stern on that October morning.
It was this which made his absent-minded eyes clear and keen as he drew
near the court-house. He had come earlier than usual but others, equally
anxious, were there before him. And then the court-house was in a way
the mart of the whole region, especially for the sale of horses.
Rough-looking men with the marks of the stable and the race-track upon
them, were riding the best quarter nags up and down the forest path and
pointing out the delicate leg, the well-proportioned head, and the
elegant form, which made the traits of the first race-horses in
Kentucky.
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