storekeeper hain't no business on it,
nohow--'twould starve him out; so Uncle Zack don't keep it.' And his
unpleasant little eyes twinkled again at the idea of such unwonted
connection as his father and a conscience.

'That Indjin war hoppin' mad, I can tell you; for they be the greatest
brutes at gettin' drunk in the univarsal world. They'll do 'most anythin'
for whisky.'

'The greater the cruelty of giving it to them,' said Robert.

'What are you doin'?' asked Nimrod, after a moment's survey of the
other's work.

'Shingling,' was the reply. 'Learning to make shingles.'

'An' you call _them_ shingles?' kicking aside, with a gesture of
contempt, the uneven slices of pinewood which had fallen from Robert's
tool. 'You hain't dressed the sapwood off them blocks, and the grain
eats into one another besides. True for Uncle Zack that gentry from the
old country warn't never born to be handlin' axes an' frows. It don't
come kinder nateral. They shouldn't be no thicker than four to an inch
to be rael handsome shingles,' added he, 'such as sell for
seven-an'-sixpence a thousand.'

Nimrod's pertinacious supervision could not be got rid of until dinner;
not even though Mr. Wynn asked him his errand in no conciliatory tone.

'Thought I'd kinder like to see how ye were gettin' on,' was the answer.
'New settlers is so precious awk'ard. Thought I'd loaf about awhile, an'
see. It's sorter amusin'.'

He was so ignorantly unconscious of doing anything offensive by such
gratification of his curiosity, that Robert hardly knew whether to laugh
or be angry. Nimrod's thick-skinned sensibilities would have cared
little for either. He lounged about, whittling sticks, chewing tobacco,
and asking questions, until Andy's stentorian call resounded through the
woods near.

'I guessed I'd dine with you to-day,' said Nim, marching on before his
host. With equal coolness, as soon as the dish of trout appeared, he
transfixed the largest with his case-knife.

'Not so fast, my friend,' interrupted Mr. Holt, bringing back the
captive. 'We divide fair here, though it's not Yankee law, I'm aware.'

'Ah, you warn't born yesterday,' rejoined Nim, showing his yellow
teeth, which seemed individually made and set after the pattern of his
father's. 'You're a smart man, I guess--raised in Amerikay, an' no
mistake.'

'But come, Andy,' said Arthur, 'tell us where you caught these fine
trout? You've altogether made a brilliant effort to-day in the purve