s for his
pluck. "But you've got to look out. This ain't back in the settlements,
and there's a plenty around here as would cut your throat for a wink of
Terpy's eye. They will give you a shake for it, and if you come out of
that safe it will be all right. I'll see one or two of the boys and see
that they don't let 'em double up on you. A horse can't do nothin' long
if he has got a double load on him, no matter what he is."

Tim strolled out, and, though Keith did not know it for some time, he
put in a word for him in one or two places which stood him in good stead
afterwards.

The following day a stranger came up to Keith. He was a thin man between
youth and middle age, with a long face and a deep voice, and light hair
that stuck up on his head. His eyes were deep-set and clear; his mouth
was grave and his chin strong. He wore a rusty black coat and short,
dark trousers.

"Are you Mr. Keith?" His voice was deep and melancholy.

Keith bowed. He could not decide what the stranger was. The short
trousers inclined him to the church.

"I am proud to know you, sir. I am Mr. Drummond, the Methodist
preacher." He gripped Keith's hand.

Keith expressed the pleasure he had in meeting him.

"Yes, sir; I am proud to know you," repeated Mr. Drummond. "I hear you
have come out on the right side, and have given a righteous reproof to
that wretched dancing Jezebel who is trying to destroy the souls of the
young men of this town."

Keith said that he was not aware that he had done anything of the kind.
As to destroying the young men, he doubted if they could be injured by
her--certainly not by dancing. In any event, he did not merit
his praise.

Mr. Drummond shook his head. "Yes, sir. You are the first young man who
has had the courage to withstand the wiles of that person. She is the
most abandoned creature in this town; she beguiles the men so that I can
make no impression on them. Even when I am holding my meetings, I can
hear the strains of her fiddles and the shouts of the ribald followers
that throng her den-of-Satan. I have tried to get her to leave, but she
will not go."

Keith's reply was that he thought she had as much right there as any
one, and he doubted if there were any way to meet the difficulty.

"I am sorry to hear you say that," said the preacher. "I shall break up
her sink of iniquity if I have to hold a revival meeting at her very
door and call down brimstone and fire upon her den of wickedness"

"I