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As she met the boy's eyes, it was clear that her own held neither

nervousness nor fear, and yet there was solint of invitation She rose from her seat

"I hain't ter say skeered," she told him, "but, ef ye wants ter walk

as fur as the stile, I hain't a-keerin'"

The youth rose, and, taking his hat and rifle, followed her

Lescott was happily gifted with the power of facile adaptation, and he

unobtrusively bent his efforts toward convincing his new acquaintances

that, although he was alien to their ways, he was syiven, the fah he had been absent, and, as he sat with open ears, he learned

the rudiether

in Samson's defense

At last, Spicer South's sister, a woh she was really younger, appeared, s a clay pipe, which she

waved toward the kitchen

"You men kin come in an' eat," she announced; and thethe ashes from their pipes, trailed into the kitchen

The place was lit by the fire in a cavernous hearth where the cooking

was still going forith skillet and crane The food, coarse and

greasy, but not unwholesohly clad s,