ul mad at you, an' says he'll
bring ye farmers, an' soldiers, and sailors, an' mechanics, if
that's what ye want. I 'spect he'll do his best to git a load of them
particular people an' drop 'em at yer door. I'd take down that sign, ef
I was you. Not that me an' Danny minds, fur we're glad to git a stage to
feed, an' ef you've any single man that wants lodgin' we've fixed up a
room and kin keep him overnight."

Notwithstanding this warning, Euphemia and I decided not to take in our
sign. We were not to be frightened by a stage-driver. The next day our
own driver passed us on the road as he was going down.

"So ye're pertickler about the people ye take in, are ye?" said he,
smiling. "That's all right, but ye made Bill awful mad."

It was quite late on a Monday afternoon that Bill stopped at our house
again. He did not call out this time. He simply drew up, and a man with
a big black valise clambered down from the top of the stage. Then Bill
shouted to me as I walked down to the gate, looking rather angry I
suppose:

"I was agoin' to git ye a whole stage-load, to stay all night, but that
one'll do ye, I reckon. Ha, ha!" And off he went, probably fearing that
I would throw his passenger up on the top of the stage again.

The new-comer entered the gate. He was a dark man, with black hair and
black whiskers and mustache, and black eyes. He wore clothes that had
been black, but which were now toned down by a good deal of dust, and,
as I have said, he carried a black valise.

"Why did you stop here?" said I, rather inhospitably. "Don't you know
that we do not accommodate--"

"Yes, I know," he said, walking up on the piazza and setting down his
valise, "that you only take soldiers, sailors, farmers, and mechanics at
this house. I have been told all about it, and if I had not thoroughly
understood the matter I should not have thought of such a thing as
stopping here. If you will sit down for a few moments I will explain."
Saying this, he took a seat on a bench by the door, but Euphemia and I
continued to stand.

"I am," he continued, "a soldier, a sailor, a farmer, and a mechanic.
Do not doubt my word; I will prove it to you in two minutes. When but
seventeen years of age, circumstances compelled me to take charge of a
farm in New Hampshire, and I kept up that farm until I was twenty-five.
During this time I built several barns, wagon-houses, and edifices of
the sort on my place, and, becoming expert in this branch of me