me when you have trouble?
Am I losing caste in your community?"

"Well, you know, Colonel, you haven't been over sence the year one; an'
then the Major is kinder kin to one of the chaps that's been took off."

"Exactly; but did it ever occur to you that whoever is kin to Tomlin is
a little kin to me," remarked the Colonel. "Tomlin is my
brother-in-law--But where are you going now?"

"Well, I thought I would go to the tavern, have my hoss put up an' fed,
git a snack of somethin' to eat, an' then call on the Major."

"You hadn't heard, I reckon, that the tavern is closed, and the
livery-stable broke up," said the Colonel, by way of giving the visitor
some useful information.

At that moment a negro came out on the veranda of the hotel--only the
older people called it a tavern--and rang the bell that meant breakfast
in half an hour.

"What's that?" inquired Mr. Sanders, though he knew well enough.

"It's pure habit," replied the Colonel. "That nigger has been ringing
the bell so long that he can't quit it. Anyhow, you can't go to the
tavern, and you can't go to Tomlin's. He's got a mighty big family to
support, Tomlin has. He's fixin' up to have a son-in-law, and he's
already got a daughter, and old Minervy Ann, who brags that she can eat
as much as she can cook. No, you can't impose on Tomlin."

"Then, what in the world will I do?" Mr. Sanders asked with a laugh. He
was perfectly familiar with the tactics of the Colonel.

"Well, there wasn't any small-pox or measles at my house when I left day
before yesterday. Suppose we go there, and see if there's anything the
matter. If the stable hasn't blown away or burned down, maybe you'll
find a place for your horse, and then we can scuffle around maybe, and
find something to eat. That's a fine animal you're on. He's the one, I
reckon, that walked the stringer, after the bridge had been washed away.
I never could swallow that tale, Mr. Sanders."

"Nor me nuther," replied Mr. Sanders. "All I know is that he took me
across the river one dark night after a fresh, an' some folks on t'other
side wouldn't believe I had come across. They got to the place whar the
bridge ought to 'a' been long before dark, and they found it all gone
except one stringer. I seed the stringer arterwards, but I never could
make up my mind that my hoss walked it wi' me a-straddle of his back."

"Still, if he was my horse," Colonel Blasengame remarked, "I wouldn't
take a thousand dollars for him,