e man. See? But I tell you
right here, and don't you fergit it, this yere country is going to be
free State. Kansas is no good for slavery; and slavery can't get in
here. Stick a pin there, and keep your eye on it."

With some wonder and much disgust at the man's cowardice, Sandy
packed his precious letters in the bosom of his shirt. Into one end
of his meal-sack he put a pound of soda-biscuit for which his Uncle
Charlie had longed, a half-pound of ground ginger with which
Charlie desired to make some "molasses gingerbread, like mother's,"
and a half-pound of smoking-tobacco for his dear father. It seemed
a long way off to his father now, Sandy thought, as he tied up
that end of the bag. Then into the other end, having tied the bag
firmly around, about a foot and a half from the mouth, he put the
package of nails and a roll of sheet lead. It had been agreed that
if they were to go buffalo-hunting, they must have rifle-balls and
bullets for their shot-guns.

The sutler, who had become very friendly, looked on with an amused
smile, and said, "'Pears to me, sonny, you got all the weight at one
end, haven't you?"

Sandy did not like to be called "sonny," but he good-naturedly agreed
that he had made a mistake; so he began all over again and shifted
his cargo so that the nails and a box of yeast-powder occupied one
end of the meal-sack, and the other articles balanced the other. The
load was then tied closely to the crupper of the saddle and the boy
was ready to start on his homeward trip. His eyes roved longingly over
the stock of goodies which the sutler kept for the children, young and
old, of the garrison, and he asked, "How much for raisins?"

"Two bits a pound for box, and fifteen cents for cask," replied the
man, sententiously.

"Give me half a pound of cask raisins," said the boy, with some
hesitation. He had only a few cents to spare for his own purchases.

The sutler weighed out a half-pound of box raisins, did them up, and
handed them across the counter, saying, "No pay; them's for
Whittier."

Sandy took the package, shoved it into his shirt-bosom, and, wondering
if his "Thank you" were sufficient payment for the gift, mounted his
steed, rode slowly up the road to a spring that he had noticed
bubbling out of the side of a ravine, and with a thankful heart,
turning out the horse to graze, sat down to eat his frugal lunch, now
graced with the dry but to him delicious raisins. So the sutler at
Fort Riley wa