tal amount was $488; but as I received five per cent discount, I paid
only $464. The goods, except the wagons and harnesses, were to go by
freight to Exeter. Polly was to buy the necessary furnishings for the
men's house, the only stipulation I made being that the beds should be
good enough for me to sleep in. On the 25th of July she showed me a list
of the things which she had purchased. It seemed interminable; but she
assured me that she had bought nothing unnecessary, and that she had
been very careful in all her purchases. As I knew that Polly was in the
habit of getting the worth of her money, I paid the bills without more
ado. The list footed up to $495.

Most of the housekeeping things were to be delivered at the station in
Exeter; the rest were to go on the wagons. On the afternoon of the 30th
the wagons and harnesses were sent to the stable where the horses had
been kept, and the articles to go in these wagons were loaded for an
early start the following morning. The distance from the station in the
city to the station at Exeter is thirty miles, but the stable is three
miles from the city station, the farm two and a half miles from Exeter
station, and the wagon road not so direct as the railroad. The trip to
the farm, therefore, could not be much less than forty miles, and would
require the best part of two days. The three men whom I had engaged
reported for duty, as also did Thompson's son, whom we are to know
hereafter as Zeb.

Early on the last day of the month the men and teams were off, with
cooked provisions for three days. They were to break the journey
twenty-five miles out, and expected to reach the farm the next
afternoon. Polly and I wished to see them arrive, so we took the train
at 1 P.M. August 1st, and reached Four Oaks at 2.30, taking with us Mrs.
Thompson, who was to cook for the men.

Before starting I had telephoned a local carpenter to meet me, and to
bring a mason if possible. I found both men on the ground, and explained
to them that there would be abundant work in their lines on the place
for the next year or two, that I was perfectly willing to pay a
reasonable profit on each job, but that I did not propose to make them
rich out of any single contract.

The first thing to do, I told them, was to move the large farm-house to
the site already chosen, about two hundred yards distant, enlarge it,
and put a first-class cellar under the whole. The principal change
needed in the house was a