s not an April spirit to smile in sunlight
twenty-four hours after it had fulminated in storm.

Opdyke gazed glumly at his visitor, as he listened, then he lied
fluently in response.

"All right. I had my say yestidday an' now I'm done. Next time ther
circuit-rider holds big meetin' I'm comin' through ter ther mourners'
bench an' howl out sanctimony so loud I'll bust everybody's eardrums,"
and the big man laughed sneeringly.

Yet an hour later Opdyke was greasing and loading his squirrel gun.

* * * * *

When the supper dishes had been cleared away that night, Old Jim and
Parish Thornton sat for a long while in the front room, and because it
was a sultry night and peace had been pledged, both door and window
stood open.

Dorothy sat listening while they talked, and the theme which occupied
them was the joint effort that must be made on either side the old feud
line for the firm enforcement of the new treaty. They discussed plans
for catching in time and throttling by joint action any sporadic
insurgencies by which the experimentally minded might endeavour to test
their strength of leadership.

"Now thet we stands in accord," mused Old Jim, "jestice kin come back
ter ther cote-house ergin--an' ther jedge won't be terrified ter
dispense hit, with me sittin' on one side of him an' you on t'other. Men
hev mistrusted ther law so long es one crowd held all hits power."

Outside along the roadside margin of deep shadow crept the figure of a
man with a rifle in his hand. It was a starlit night with a sickle of
new moon, neither bright nor yet densely dark, so that shapes were
opaquely visible but not clear-cut or shadow-casting.

The man with the long-barrelled rifle none the less avoided the open
road and edged along the protecting growth of heavy weed stalk and wild
rose thicket until he came to a point where the heavier shadow of the
big walnut tree blotted all shapes into blackness. There he cautiously
climbed the fence, taking due account of the possible creaking-of
unsteady rails.

"I'd love ter see men enabled ter confidence ther co'te ergin," said
Parish Thornton, answering his old guest after a long and meditative
silence. "Hit would ease a heap of torment. Up ter now they've hed ter
trust tha'r rifle-guns."

As he spoke his eyes went to the wall by the door where during these
weeks of disuse his own rifle had stood leaning, and his wife smiled as
her glance followed his. Sh