long head an' that's a fac'," said Bud, who
wondered why he had not thought of all these little things himself.
"I'll bear them idees in mind. Now, punch up the fire a little an' let
me see if I can read what's into this letter. One of the most prominent
an' respected citizens of Barrington; that's what I be, an' the feller
who writ to me knows it."

Having lighted his pipe and waited until the blaze from the fire had
attained sufficient brightness, Bud drew the letter from his pocket and
read aloud:

"Dear sir and frind i take my pen in hand to let you know that you aint
doing as you had oughter do you are paid by the committee of safety to
keep an eye on all the abolitionists in the kentry and you dont do it
theres plenty of them in barington and a hul pile of them up to the
cademy wich is a disgrace to the town them boys some of them is spiling
for a licking sich as you and your frinds had oughter give them long ago
but aint done it and had oughter have a little sense knocked into their
heads why dont you send them warning to shet up or clear themselves
outen the federasy like the govment says they must do inside of ten days
theres that gray boy for one and that graham boy for an other but they
aint no kin though theyre awful sassy and need looking to if you dont
tend to business bettern this i shall have to see that the committee
gets some body else in your place hurra for jeff davis and the south and
long may she wave that is my moto."

Men of sense do not usually give a second thought to anonymous
communications, but put them into the fire as soon as they ascertain
their character; but Goble, of course, did not know this, and besides he
was not that sort of a fellow. He was not strictly honorable himself,
and was glad to receive hints, even if they came from a correspondent
who was too much of a coward to sign his name to what he had written. He
saw at once that he had been remiss in his duty, and the threat
contained in the closing lines made him a little uneasy.

"Land sakes, I plumb forgot to keep an eye on them boys at the 'cademy,"
he said, as he folded the letter and prepared to return it to the
envelope. As he did so, he found that there were a few lines written on
the outside which he had not before noticed. They ran as follows:

"Them boys I spoke of that gray and graham boy are the verry ones who
fooled you about that under ground rail road--"

When Bud read these words he hit his rheumatic leg an