ng the
bucket into the trough and watching the horse drink.

"As well as common; me an' him wus both bound fer you to git the
livery-stable, an' we are glad the trade's closed. It will seem like
ol' times to have a body from Fannin over heer. As soon as you writ
the price you wus willin' to give in a lumpin' sum, Luke set to
scheming. He ain't no fool, if I do say it. Horton an' Webb had the'r
eyes on the stable, an' Luke thinks they'd a-raised his bid, but they
'lowed he wus biddin' fur himself, an' knowed he couldn't raise the
money. Mis' Thorp wus in heer this mornin', an' she said Jasper Webb
swore like rips when the administrator tol' 'im the trade wus closed
with Luke as yore agent. You orter do well with the investment; you
got it cheap; you know how to keep up stock, an' the hack-line will pay
with the mail it carries an' the passenger travel twixt heer an'
Darley."

"I'm satisfied," he said, and he took the saddle and bridle from his
horse and turned the animal into the little log stable.

"Hain't you goin' to feed 'im?" she asked, hospitably, as he was
closing the door; "the's some fodder overhead, an' the corn is in re'ch
through the crack above the trough."

"Not yet," he returned; "I fed him some shelled corn at the shop. I'll
give him a few ears at supper-time."

The slanting rays of the sun streamed from a saffron sky in the west
and blazed in the red, yellow, and pink foliage on the mountain-side.
The light brought into clearer outline the brown peaks and beetling
crags that rose bleak and bare above the wealth of color, beyond the
dark, evergreen stretches of pines and mountain cedars. The gorgeous
tail of a peacock spread and gleamed under the cherry-trees in the back
yard. A sleek calf was running back and forth in a little lot, and a
brindled cow was bellowing mellowly, her head thrown up as she cantered
down the road, her heavy bag swinging under her.

At the sight of the woman a flock of ducks, chickens, and geese
gathered round her. She shooed the fowls away with her apron. "They
want the'r supper," she said, as she led her guest back to the front
yard. She went to the gate and looked down the road. "I see Luke at
the branch," she added, coming back to him; "he'd be on faster ef he
knowed you wus heer."

Luke Bradley was about fifty years of age. He had blue eyes, a long
body, long arms, and long legs. His hair was reddish brown and his
face florid and freckled. He walked