btruding bandage before him, he dwelt upon
Cressy's previous attitude in the school, the danger of any relapse, the
necessity of her having a more clearly defined position as a scholar,
and even the advisability of her being transferred to a more advanced
school with a more mature teacher of her own sex. "This is what I wished
to say to Mrs. McKinstry to-day," he concluded, "but she referred me to
you."

"In course, in course," said McKinstry, nodding complacently. "She's a
good woman in and around the ranch, and in any doin's o' this kind," he
lightly waved his wounded arm in the air, "there ain't a better, tho'
I say it. She was Blair Rawlins' darter; she and her brother Clay bein'
the only ones that kem out safe arter their twenty years' fight with the
McEntees in West Kaintuck. But she don't understand gals ez you and me
do. Not that I'm much, ez I orter be more kam. And the old woman jest
sized the hull thing when she said SHE hadn't any hand in Cressy's
engagement. No more she had! And ez far ez that goes, no more did me,
nor Seth Davis, nor Cressy." He paused, and lifting his heavy-lidded
eyes to the master for the second time, said reflectively, "Ye mustn't
mind my tellin' ye--ez betwixt man and man--that THE one ez is most
responsible for the makin' and breakin' o' that engagement is YOU!"

"Me!" said the master in utter bewilderment.

"You!" repeated McKinstry quietly, reinstalling the hand Ford had
attempted to withdraw. "I ain't sayin' ye either know'd it or kalkilated
on it. But it war so. Ef ye'd hark to me, and meander on a little, I'll
tell ye HOW it war. I don't mind walkin' a piece YOUR way, for if we go
towards the ranch, and the hounds see me, they'll set up a racket and
bring out the old woman, and then good-by to any confidential talk
betwixt you and me. And I'm, somehow, kammer out yer."

He moved slowly down the trail, still holding Ford's arm confidentially,
although, owing to his large protecting manner, he seemed to offer a
ridiculous suggestion of supporting HIM with his wounded member.

"When you first kem to Injin Spring," he began, "Seth and Cressy was
goin' to school, boy and girl like, and nothin' more. They'd known each
other from babies--the Davises bein' our neighbors in Kaintuck, and
emigraten' with us from St. Joe. Seth mout hev cottoned to Cress, and
Cress to him, in course o' time, and there wasn't anythin' betwixt the
families to hev kept 'em from marryin' when they wanted. B