aggerin' the nex' time I comes up with him."

Old Daddy rose with affronted dignity.

"My son," he declared vehemently,--"my son ain't gin over ter drinkin'
whiskey, tax or no tax. An' he ain't got no call ter stagger--_like some
folks!_"

And despite all apology and protest, he left the house in a huff.

His old bones ached with the unwonted exercise, and were rudely enough
jarred by the rough roads and the awful gaits of his ancient steed. The
sun was hot, and so was his heart, and when he reached home, infinitely
fatigued and querulous, he gave his son a sorry account of his reception
at the store. As he concluded, saying that five of the men had sent word
that they would be at Jonas Creyshaw's house at moon-rise "ter holp him
see the harnt," his son's brow darkened, and he strode heavily out of
the room.

He usually exhibited in a high degree the hospitality characteristic of
these mountaineers, but now it had given way to a still stronger
instinct.

"Si," he said, coming suddenly upon the boy, "put out right now fur
Bently's store at the settle_mint_, an' tell them sneaks ez hang round
thar ter sarch round thar own houses fur harnts, ef they hanker ter see
enny harnts. Ef they hev got the insurance ter kem hyar, they'll see
wusser sights 'n enny harnts. Tell 'em I ain't a-goin' ter 'low no man
ter cross my doorstep ez don't show Old Daddy the right medjure o'
respec'. They'd better keep out'n my way ginerally."

So with this bellicose message Si set out. But an unlucky idea occurred
to him as he went plodding along the sandy road.

"Whilst I'm a-goin' on this hyar harnt's yerrand"----The logical Si
brought up with a shiver.

"I went ter say--whilst I'm a-goin' on this hyar yerrand fur the
harnt"----This was as bad.

"Whilst," he qualified once more, "I'm a-goin' on this hyar yerrand
_'bout'n_ the harnt, I mought ez well skeet off in them deep woods a
piece ter see ef enny wild cherries air ripe on that tree by the spring.
I'll hev plenty o' time."

But even Si could not persuade himself that the cherries were ripe, and
he stood for a moment under the tree, staring disconsolately at the
distant blue ridges shimmering through the heated air. The sunlight was
motionless, languid; it seemed asleep. The drowsy drone of insects
filled the forest. As Si threw himself down to rest on the rocky brink
of the mountain, a grasshopper sprang away suddenly, high into the air,
with an agility that suggested to him t