things--could not only speak eight languages, but he knew also
so many other things that I've heard he could forget more in a day and
not miss it than the ordinary man would learn in a lifetime."

Jarvis whistled.

"He wuz shorely a big scholar," he said, "but it agrees exactly with
what old Aunt Suse says. Paul Cotter was always huntin' fur books,
an' books wuz mighty sca'ce in the Kentucky woods then."

"Henry Ware and Paul Cotter always lived near each other," resumed Harry,
"and in two cases their grandchildren intermarried. A boy of my own age
named Dick Mason, who is the great-grandson of Paul Cotter, is also my
first cousin."

"Now that's interestin' an' me bein' of an inquirin' min', I'd like to
ask you where this Dick Mason is."

Harry waved his hand toward the north.

"Up there somewhere," he said.

"You mean that he's gone with the North, took one side while you've took
the other?"

"Yes, that's it. We couldn't see alike, but we think as much as ever of
each other. I met him in Frankfort, where he had come from the Northern
camp in Garrard County, but I think he left for the East before I did.
The Northern forces hold the railways leading out of Kentucky and he's
probably in Washington now."

Jarvis lighted his pipe and puffed a while in silence. At length he
drew the stem from his mouth, blew a ring of smoke upward and said in a
tone of conviction:

"It does beat the Dutch how things come about!"

Harry looked questioningly at him.

"I mean your arrivin' here, bein' who you are, an' your meetin' old Aunt
Suse, bein' who she is, an' that cousin of yours, Dick Mason, didn't you
say was his name, bein' who he is, goin' off to the North."

They sat on the porch later than the custom of the mountaineers, and the
beauty of the place deepened. The moon poured a vast flood of misty,
silver light over the little valley, hemmed in by its high mountains,
and Harry was so affected by the silence and peace that he had no
feeling of anger toward anybody, not even toward Bill Skelly, who had
tried to kill him.

CHAPTER XI

IN VIRGINIA

Harry left the valley with the keenest feeling of regret, realizing at
the parting how strong a friendship he had formed with this family.
But he felt that he could not delay any longer. Affairs must be moving
now in the great world in the east, and he wished to be at the heart of
them. He had a strong, sure-footed horse, and he had supplies and an
extra