ars, and this was exactly the sort of outrage
that a mind like his would least tolerate. It was, to be sure, a
wild, out-of-the-world kind of place; the people were a rough,
semi-civilized-looking set; public opinion in such a spot _might_ take a
rude form; what they deemed unequal to their expectations, they _might_
construe as a fraud upon their pockets; and if so, and that their
judgment should take the form he hinted at--Still, he was reluctant to
accept this version of the case, and stood deeply pondering what line to
adopt.

"You don't like it, stranger; now that's a fact," said Heron, as he
scanned his features. "You 've been a-think-in', 'Oh, any rubbish I like
will be good enough for these bark-cutters. What should such fellows
know, except about their corn crops and their saw-mills? _I_ needn't
trouble my head about what I talk to 'em.' But now, you see, it ain't
so; you begin to perceive that Jonathan, with his sleeves rolled up
for work, is a smart man, who keeps his brains oiled and his thoughts
polished, like one of Platt's engines, and it won't do to ask him to
make French rolls out of sawdust!"

Layton was still silent, partly employed in reviewing the difficulty
of his position, but even more, perhaps, from chagrin at the tone of
impertinence addressed to him.

"Yes, sir," said Heron, continuing an imaginary dialogue with
himself,--"yes, sir; that's a mistake more than one of your countrymen
has fallen into. As Mr. Clay said, it 's so hard for an Englishman not
to think of us as colonists."

"I 've made up my mind," said Layton, at last "I 'll not lecture."

"Won't you? Then all I can say is, Britisher, look out for a busy
arternoon. I told you what our people was. I warned you that if they
struck work an hour earlier to listen to a preacher, it would fare ill
with him if he wanted the mill to turn without water."

"I repeat, I 'll not lecture, come what may of it," said Layton, firmly.

"Well, it ain't so very hard to guess what _will_ come of it," replied
the other.

"This is all nonsense and folly, sir," said Layton, angrily. "I have
taken no man's money; I have deceived no one. Your people, when I shall
have left this place, will be no worse than when I entered it."

"If that 's your platform, stranger, come out and defend it; we 'll have
a meetin' called, and I promise you a fair hearin'."

"I have no account to render to any. I am not responsible for my conduct
to one of you!" said Lay