drive him.
And, even though he did belong to you, it don't prove but what ye sold
him arterward, and then pretended he was stole, to cheat some honest man
out of his prop'ty. Hurry up, boy! buckle them hames." And he went to
throw on the other harness.

Jack stepped in Zeph's way. "This is my horse, and I've a word to say
about buckling those hames."

"Ye mean to hender my work?" roared Peakslow, turning upon him. "Ye mean
to git me mad?"

Jack had before been hardly able to speak, for his rising wrath and
beating heart; but he was now getting control of himself.

"I don't see the need of anybody's getting mad, Mr. Peakslow. There's a
right and a wrong in this case; and if we both want the right, we shall
agree."

"Every man has his own way o' lookin' at the right," said Peakslow,
slightly mollified. "The right, to your notion, is that I shall give ye
up the hoss. I've got possession of the hoss, and I mean to keep
possession; and that's what's about right, to my notion."

"I want only what is lawfully my own," Jack answered, firmly. "If you
want what isn't yours, that's _not_ right, but wrong. There's such a
thing as justice, aside from our personal interest in a matter."

Probably Peakslow had never thought of that.

"Wal, what ye goin' to do about it?" he asked.

"I am going to have my horse," replied Jack. "If you let me take him
peaceably, very well. If you compel me to go to law, I shall have him
all the same, and you will have the costs to pay."

Peakslow winced. The threat of costs touched him in his tenderest spot.

"How's that?" he anxiously asked.

"I haven't been about the country looking for my horse, without knowing
something of the law for the recovery of stolen property," replied Jack.
"If I find him in your hands, and you give him up, I've no action
against you. If you hold on to him, I can do one of two things. I can go
to a magistrate, and by giving bonds to an amount that will cover all
damages to you or anybody else if I fail to make good my claim, get out
a _writ of replevin_, and send a sheriff with it to take the horse. Or I
can let you keep him, and sue you for damages. In either case, the one
who is beaten will have the costs to pay," Jack insisted, turning the
screw again where he saw it pinch.

The swarthy brow was covered with perspiration, as Peakslow answered,
making a show of bluster,--

"I can fight ye with the law, or any other way, 's long's you want to
fight. I've g