o, and you know what
I have done, only you folks are too stubborn to admit it." Emma elevated
her chin and stamped around behind the barn out of sight.

After Hippy had embraced Nora and greeted the other girls he shook hands
with the doctor, who had come to the cabin door to wave a hand at Hippy.

"They didn't get you after all, I see," chuckled the doctor.

Hippy grinned.

"Now you-all is back, Ah wants t' talk t' ye," said Jed.

"Just a minute, Jed. What's that, Doc?"

"I say, what happened after I left you?"

"We took a few pot shots at each other from the bushes. The bullets got
rather thick, so I decided upon a retreat. Came near having another
set-to with Jed. We both were stalking each other down the trail a
piece, but Jed got the drop on me and, when he found out who I was, he
told me that he had come after me and why."

The doctor chuckled and returned to his patients, whereupon Hippy nodded
to the mountaineer, and the latter led the way to the rear of the barn
where they found Emma sunning herself and "con-centrating" on something.
Hippy waved her away and turned to Thompson.

"What's the big idea, Jed?" he asked jovially.

"That's what Ah wants t' know, Jim Townsend."

"Eh? Townsend! I don't get you."

"We uns up here ain't no fools even if we hain't got edication. We uns
knowed you-all was comin'. If I'd seen ye before ye did this fer Liz an'
Sue, I'd a plugged ye shore."

"Just a moment, please. Let me get this straight. Who is it you think I
am?"

"Yer Jim Townsend. Ah knows you-all, cause you-all was pinted out t' me
one time down t' Henderson, 'cept ye didn't have on them togs you-all is
wearin' now."

"Who is Townsend?" questioned Hippy. "If he looks like me, he is a very
fortunate man."

"You be he. What Ah wants t' know is what--jest what's yer game up
here? As Ah've said, you-all, and the wimmen, has done me a favor an' no
man kin say Jed Thompson ever fergits a favor. But it kain't last.
You-all got ter git out. What Ah ain't goin' t' do now, an' what some
other folks might do, is two different things. Ah tell ye it ain't safe
fer ye t' stay up here in these hills at all."

"Listen to me, Thompson. I don't know who this man is that looks like
me, but I have every reason to believe that my name is Wingate. The
record in the family Bible at home says I am, and what I read in that
book I believe. You're wrong, Buddy. I am Wingate. I was a lieutenant in
the flying corps during the