cut
of tobacco from the superintendent and wonder aimlessly around the farm
until Mr. Sutton's family prayers and breakfast were accomplished. We
shall not concern ourselves with the message or the somewhat lengthy
manner in which it was delivered. Jake had merely dropped in by
accident, but the Rajah listened coldly while he picked his teeth, said
he didn't know whether he was going to Brampton or not--hadn't decided;
didn't know whether he could get to Coniston or not--his affairs were
multitudinous now. In short, he set Jake to thinking deeply as his horse
walked up the western heights of Coniston on the return journey. He
had, let it be repeated, a sure instinct once his nose was fairly on
the scent, and he was convinced that a war of great magnitude was in the
air, and he; Jake Wheeler, was probably the first in all the elate to
discover it! His blood leaped at the thought.

The hill-Rajah's defiance, boiled down, could only mean one thing,--that
somebody with sufficient power and money was about to lock horns with
Jethro Bass. Not for a moment did Jake believe that, for all his pomp
and circumstance, the Honorable Heth Sutton was a big enough man to do
this. Jake paid to the Honorable Heth all the outward respect that his
high position demanded, but he knew the man through and through. He
thought of the Honorable Heth's reform speech in Congress, and laughed
loudly in the echoing woods. No, Mr. Sutton was not the man to lead a
fight. But to whom had he promised his allegiance? This question puzzled
Mr. Wheeler all the way home, and may it be said finally for many
days thereafter. He slid into Coniston in the dusk, big with impending
events, which he could not fathom. As to giving Jethro the careless
answer of the hill-Rajah, that was another matter.

The Fourth of July came at last, nor was any contradiction made in the
Brampton papers that the speech of the Honorable Heth Sutton had been
cancelled. Instead, advertisements appeared in the 'Brampton
Clarion' announcing the fact in large letters. When Cynthia read
this advertisement to Jethro, he chuckled again. They were under the
butternut tree, for the evenings were long now.

"Will you take me to Brampton, Uncle Jethro?" said she, letting fall the
paper on her lap.

"W-who's to get in the hay?" said Jethro.

"Hay on the Fourth of July!" exclaimed Cynthia, "why, that's--sacrilege!
You'd much better come and hear Mr. Sutton's speech--it will do you
good."