ting pot for
tar!" exclaimed Larry, hoarsely. "Anybody with one eye could see that,
because there's tar all over it. Guess they use it with some of their
boats. And Phil, look at that old hag toting that awful bag on her
head. What d'ye suppose is in that but geese feathers as old as the
hills! Oh, murder! we're up against it good and hard. I can almost
feel my wings beginning to sprout right now!"

"Hold on, Larry," Phil remarked. "It looks like they meant to scare
us, and have a little fun at our expense; but that doesn't mean they'll
go through the whole performance. Give me a chance to spring my
father's letter on McGee, and see what it does to him. Why, he would
have to be next door to crazy to refuse such a magnificent offer to go
into partnership with the man who owns these lands; for that's about
what it means in the end."

"But they say he is nigh crazy when he gets one of his stubborn fits
on!" declared the other, dejectedly. "He just can't see anything else
but the one thing that's on his mind. And right now, Phil, that's the
fact of his having in his power the only son of the man he hates like
poison. Besides, you told me he said he couldn't read a word; so how's
he goin' to know that the letter says what you declare it does?"

Phil had himself thought of that.

"His wife could read it for him, or perhaps even Tony," he said.

"Aw! d'ye think a suspicious man like McGee would trust either of 'em
in a matter like this? Not for a minute, Phil. He'd think they might
be fooling him, just to save us from getting our downy coats. Try
something else, please."

"Tony said there was one old fellow in the settlement who could read,"
observed Phil, thoughtfully. "Don't you remember he told us a queer
story about old Daddy Mixer, who seems to be some sort of natural
doctor among these people, and comes by his name from mixing all sorts
of herbs as medicine. He can read; and besides, McGee would believe
him where he mightn't his own family."

"Say, that's so!" exclaimed Larry, looking decidedly interested. "And
you could ask to have him read it out loud, so everybody might hear the
generous offer your good dad makes to every man, woman and child now
living on his lands down here. Oh! perhaps it might sweep the crowd
off their feet. Don't I hope now it does that same thing. I ain't
yearning for a new suit of down one little bit."

"It may please the ragtag and bobtail crowd from the ground up