ye,' I says, 'but in that case this morgige bus'nis 'll
be a question fer our executors,' I says, 'fer _you_ don't never
foreclose that morgige, an' don't you fergit it,' I says.

"'Oh, you'd like to git holt o' that prop'ty yourself. I see what you're
up to,' he says.

[Illustration: DAVID HARUM, Act II]

"'Look a-here, 'Zeke Swinney,' I says, 'I've got an int'rist in that
prop'ty, an' I propose to p'tect it. You're goin' to sign that morgige
over to me, or I'll foreclose an' surrygate ye,' I says, 'unless you
allow to bid in the prop'ty, in which case we'll see whose weasel-skin's
the longest. But I guess it won't come to that,' I says. 'You kin take
your choice,' I says. 'Whether I want to git holt o' that prop'ty myself
ain't neither here nor there. Mebbe I do, an' mebbe I don't, but
anyways,' I says, '_you_ don't git it, nor wouldn't ever, for if I can't
make you sign over, I'll either do what I said or I'll back the widder
in a defence fer usury. Put that in your pipe an' smoke it,' I says.

"'What do you mean?' he says, gittin' half out his chair.

"'I mean this,' I says, 'that the fust six months the widder couldn't
pay she gin you ten dollars to hold off, an' the next time she gin you
fifteen, an' that you've bled her fer shaves to the tune of sixty odd
dollars in three years, an' then got your int'rist in full.'

"That riz him clean out of his chair," said David. "'She can't prove
it,' he says, shakin' his fist in the air.

[Illustration]

"'Oh, ho! ho!' I says, tippin' my chair back agin the wall. 'If Mis'
Cullom was to swear how an' where she paid you the money, givin' chapter
an' verse, and showin' her own mem'randums even, an' I was to swear that
when I twitted you with gittin' it you didn't deny it, but only said
that she couldn't _prove_ it, how long do you think it 'ould take a
Freeland County jury to find agin ye? I allow, 'Zeke Swinney,' I says,
'that you wa'n't born yestid'y, but you ain't so old as you look, not by
a dum sight!' an' then how I did laugh!

"Wa'al," said David, as he got down off the stool and stretched himself,
yawning, "I guess I've yarned it enough fer one day. Don't fergit to
send Mis' Cullom that notice, an' make it up an' up. I'm goin' to git
the thing off my mind this trip."

"Very well, sir," said John, "but let me ask, did Swinney assign the
mortgage without any trouble?"

"O Lord! yes," was the reply. "The' wa'n't nothin' else fer him to do.
I had another twist