hat's a fact,--that's a fact. Well--then--you see--" continued
Lysander, groping for his forgotten place in the recital. "Oh, yes,--I
got up and told 'im 'Addyoce,' as if I s'posed he was through, and
started off; an' he called me back, an' 'lowed mebbe the old folks
didn't have much loose change lyin' 'round to put into water
improvements; an' I told 'im I didn't know,--I reckoned you could
mortgage the ranch. From the way he talked, he'd make you a handsome
loan on it, and jump at the chance; an' after he'd hummed and hawed a
while, he offered to give you a clear title to Flutterwheel Spring if
you'd deed 'im your int'rest in the rest o' the canon. I told 'im it
wasn't my funeral. I'd tell you what he said, an' you could do as you
pleased."

The old woman fixed her small, shrewd eyes on her son-in-law.

"What else 'd he say, Lysander?"

"Nothin' much. Wanted me to use my influence with the old man!"

His mother-in-law gave a short, contemptuous sniff.

"I reckon he'd like to do business with the old man. What'd you tell
'im?"

"I told 'im I'd be sure to put my influence where it'd do the most good,
an' I 'dvised him to see you. I 'lowed him an' you'd git on peaceable as
a meetin' to 'lect a preacher,"--Lysander rubbed his gnarled hand over
his face, as if to erase a lurking grin,--"but he didn't seem anxious."

"I reckon not. Is that all he said?"

"'Bout all. He said it was a damned good trade."

"Ly_san_der!" Mrs. Sproul sprang up, placing herself between her husband
and the heap of slumbering innocents in the corner. "Ly_san_der
Sproul,--and you a father! This comes of consortin' with the ungodly,
and settin' in the chair of the scorner."

"Oh, come now, Minervy, I was only quotin'." Lysander's eye twinkled,
but he spoke contritely, with generous consideration for his wife's
condition, which was imminently delicate.

"Oh, you're hystericky, Minervy. You'd best go to bed," observed her
mother. "You're all tuckered out with yer walk. I guess Lysander's told
all he knows, hain't you, Lysander?"

"'Bout all,--yes. He followed me out to the wagon, and hinted something
about Poindexter wantin' help if he went to work on the tunnel, and
'lowed I'd find it handier to have a job nearder home, now that the
grape-haulin' was over. But I told 'im there was no trouble about that.
The nearder home I got, the more work I found, gener'ly. Pay was kind o'
short, but then a man must be a trifle stickin' that wouldn't d