take yo' appetite with you."

"But thar's no sense in eatin' till everybody talks about it, goodness
knows."

"Who talked about it?"

"Everybody, that's who. Oh, you wouldn't love me if I was a dyin'."

"I'd much ruther have you livin'."

"No you wouldn't. If I was a dyin' it would tickle you mighty nigh to
death, you--"

In came Laz Spencer, the boy with the meal-bag on his arm.

"Glad to see you," Starbuck exclaimed, catching him by the hand; and
Laz, astonished at the warmth of the welcome, stood mute, as if
expecting for something to happen. "You got here jest in time, Laz."

"Howdy, Laz," Margaret greeted him, smoothing her countenance.

"Wall," said he, "ain't a standin' on my head," and speaking to Jasper
he added: "Come to fetch yo' meal-bag home."

"About when did you borry it, Laz," Jasper inquired, taking the bag and
throwing it upon the table.

"Last fall, some time."

"Well, how did you happen to fetch it back so soon?"

"Oh, jest got to thinkin' about it last month."

"Well, no tellin' what's goin' to happen when a feller gits to thinkin'.
What's the matter with yo' coat-tail?"

"Was a settin' on a stump, drapped off to sleep an' the calf chawed it."

"I do wish you two would hush yo' foolishness," said Margaret. "How's
yo' mother, Laz."

"Give her some interestin' news, Laz," said Starbuck. "Tell her the old
lady ain't expected to live."

"Now did anybody ever hear the like o' that," Margaret retorted. "I
never seed sich a man."

"Mother ain't so powerful well," said Laz. "She ain't bed sick, but
she's a chillin' a good deal. Got the shakes when she went down to the
creek bottoms. Can't eat nuthin' but spoon vittuls."

Margaret, dismissing the visitor from further attention, took up a
coffee-mill and sat down near the fire-place. Starbuck asked Laz how his
brother Bill was getting along since the fellow cut him with a knife,
an affair of no particular consequence, but serving as an incidental
topic for thoughtless talk.

"Sorter slow," said Laz, never changing a line of his countenance. His
face was as fixed as a mask, stupid and expressionless. Whenever he
smiled it was a neighborhood event.

"Wall, how did it happen, any way?" Starbuck inquired, biting an apple.

"Wall, Bill he war settin' thar on a log, lookin' out over the new
ground, not a thinkin' about bein' stobbed nur nuthin', an' this feller
jest slipped up an' stobbed him."

There came a hoarse cry from without.