heard outside calling "Oo-ee,
poo-ee" to the pigs in the yard; then he smiled at Marietta, but she
said:--

"He's got on one of his fits, Lime; I don't b'lieve you'd better tackle
him t'-day."

"Don't you worry; I'll fix him. Come, now, give me a kiss."

"Why, you great thing! You--took--"

"I know, but I want you to _give_ 'em to me. Just walk right up to me
an' give me a smack t' bind the bargain."

"I ain't made any bargain," laughed the girl. Then, feeling the force of
his tender tone, she added: "Will you behave, and go right off to your
work?"

"Jest like a little man--hope t' die!"

"_Lime!_" roared the old man from the barn.

"Hello!" replied Lime, grinning joyously and winking at the girl, as
much as to say, "This would paralyze the old man if he saw it."

He went out to the shed where Bacon was at work, as serene as if he had
not a fearful task on hand. He was apprehensive that the father might
"gig back" unless rightly approached, and so he awaited a good
opportunity.

The right moment seemed to present itself along about the middle of the
afternoon. Bacon was down on the ground under the machine, tightening
some burrs. This was a good chance for two reasons. In the first place,
the keen, almost savage eyes were no longer where they could glare on
him, and in spite of his cool exterior Lime had just as soon not have
the old man looking at him.

Besides, the old farmer had been telling about his "river eighty," which
was without a tenant; the man who had taken it, having lost his wife,
had grown disheartened and had given it up.

"It's an almighty good chance for a man with a small family. Good house
an' barn, good land. A likely young feller with a team an' a woman could
do tiptop on that eighty. If he wanted more, I'd let him have an eighty
j'inun'--"

"I'd like t' try that m'self," said Lime, as a feeler. The old fellow
said nothing in reply for a moment.

"Ef you had a team an' tools an' a woman, I'd jest as lief you'd have it
as anybody."

"Sell me your blacks, and I'll pay half down--the balance in the fall. I
can pick up some tools, and as for a woman, Merry Etty an' me have
talked that over to-day. She's ready to--ready to marry me whenever you
say go."

There was an ominous silence under the seeder, as if the father could
not believe his ears.

"What's--what's that!" he stuttered. "Who'd you say? What about Merry
Etty?"

"She's agreed to marry me."

"The hell you say!" roa