strue your
motives. You're thinkin' that I'll amount to somethin' if I get away
from here."

"I reckon ye've said it, Hiram." Uncle Sebastian voiced this with
great relief.

"And you're foreclosin' on me to force me to go."

"Eggzackly, Hiram. I'm proud that ye interpret my motive."

Hiram was silent another long minute. Then, with a hollow laugh: "I
reckon you'll be tolerably disappointed, Uncle Sebastian. There was a
time when I'd 'a' looked forward to leavin' Mendocino. I've had
hankerin's, and I've got 'em yet--but I'm scared. I've never been outa
the country but once. What c'n I do away from here? What d'ye expect
of me, anyway?"

"Ye c'n certainly do as much out o' here as ye're doin' here, Hiram."

"I don't know about that. It don't take much to live here. I've got
about all I want, I reckon. If I had more books to read I'd be pretty
near content. There was a time, as I said, when it was different; but
now I don't reckon I care. But what particular thing d'ye expect me to
excel in, Uncle Sebastian?"

"Excel's a tol'able big word, Hiram. I can't tell ye any more. Ye've
wanted to be a poet, an' ye've wanted to be an officer in th' army, an'
this an' that an' th' other--ye've wanted to be pretty near everythin'
ye read about last. When ye git in touch with these things, Hiram, ye
may be able to choose--though they's a heap o' 'em ain't that's in
constant touch. I know ye've got imagination. I know it's wasted here
in th' backwoods; an' I know ye gotta git."

Uncle Sebastian had risen to emphasize this ultimatum. Now, standing
and looking down, he finished:

"Whether ye'll bless me or curse me remains to be seen."

Hiram made no reply--he did not even look up.

"So be down to Wharton Bixler's by stage time to-morrow, Hiram, an' be
ready to take th' stage to Brown's Corner. I'll go with ye that far,
an' ye c'n deed me th' prop'ty before a notary, so's I won't be obliged
to foreclose. Then I'll come back an' pay yer bill at Bixler's, an'
ye'll have one hundred dollars to take ye down to Frisco. Will ye be
at th' store at half past nine?"

A wait, then a short nod.

Uncle Sebastian half turned, paused, cleared his throat, and for the
first time lost his high-handed control of the situation.

"Hiram," he said in a lower tone, "I reckon I'm a fool, but I hope ye
ain't holdin' anything agin' me. So help me, boy, I believe I'm doin'
ye a turn. Do--d'ye believe it or not?"

"Wait'