ar; an' ever sense then my wife she 'lows
that I'm afeared to fetch up enough wood at home. Ain't a cryin', air
you' ma'm?"

"They air goin' to hang Jasper," she moaned.

"You don't mean Jasper Starbuck. Well, I'll be blamed," he added,
reading her answer in her tear-streaming eyes. "I hope not, ma'm. Did
you ever hear him say anythin' about Jeff Waters? Mebby not, fur he
never ricollecks sich things. But he toted me off the field at Shiloh
when the bullets was like a swarm of bees. That's how I come to have
this," he said, and raising his left leg, hit it a resounding whack with
the hickory staff of his whip. "Timber, ma'm."

That night they were given shelter at a farmer's house, and were on
their journey again by the rising of the sun, but shortly afterward the
cart ran into a rut and one of the wheels was broken. Margaret
petulantly wondered if the Lord were trying to keep her from reaching
Nashville, and Jeff Waters replied:

"Well, if He tries right hard, He'll hold you back all right."

In the woods he cut a pole, braced his axletree, and dragged the cart
four miles to a blacksmith's shop, and two hours afterward, having lost
much time precious to the woman, they were again jogging along the road.
They put up at a tavern at night, Jeff sleeping in his cart under a
shed, explaining that he was now close enough to town to warrant such
precaution against thievery.

"I don't know why there air mo' thieves in town than in the country," he
said, and Margaret challenged his admiration and aroused his surprise by
remarking:

"I reckon it's because there air mo' folks in town."

He told her that she was gifted with fine reason and that the one saying
alone was more than enough to pay her passage.

As they drew nearer to town she began to grow nervous, but, with her
woman's tact, exhibited no astonishment at what she saw; nor did she,
after entering a busy street, show that she had ever been accustomed to
a scene less lively. They drove straightway to the jail, and when
tremulously she inquired for Jasper, they told her that he was not
there.

* * * * *

In the mountains Tom and Lou were sojourning in a little town, when by
chance they heard of the old man's arrest. At first Lou was overcome
with alarm and grief, but her husband charmed her back to enthusiasm and
to smiles.

"Why," said he, "they will take him before my father, and as soon as I
get there the governor will turn