on Sam--Mr. Barstow--fixed that all right.
Must really go now;" and, still holding his hat in his hand as a polite
compromise for his undignified haste, he fairly ran off.

Arrived at the stage office, he found the two other trustees awaiting
him, and the still more tardy stage-coach. One, a large, smooth-faced,
portly man, was the Presbyterian minister; the other, of thinner and
more serious aspect, was a large mill-owner.

"I presume," said the Rev. Mr. Peaseley, slowly, "that as our good
brother Barstow, in the urgency of the occasion, has, to some
extent, anticipated OUR functions in engaging this assistant, he
is--a--a--satisfied with his capacity?"

"Sam knows what he's about," said the mill-owner cheerfully, "and as
he's regularly buckled down to the work here, and will go his bottom
dollar on it, you can safely leave things to him."

"He certainly has exhibited great zeal," said the reverend gentleman
patronizingly.

"Zeal," echoed Sperry enthusiastically, "zeal? Why, he runs Pine
Clearing as he runs his bank and his express company in Sacramento, and
he's as well posted as if he were here all the time. Why, look here;"
he nudged the mill-owner secretly, and, as the minister's back was
momentarily turned, pulled out the letter he had avoided reading to Mrs.
Martin, and pointed to a paragraph. "I'll be d----d," said the writer,
"but I'll have peace and quietness at Pine Clearing, if I have to wipe
out or make over the whole Pike County gang. Draw on me for a piano if
you think Mrs. Martin can work it. But don't say anything to Peaseley
first, or he'll want it changed for a harmonium, and that lets us in
for psalm-singing till you can't rest. Mind! I don't object to Church
influence--it's a good hold!--but you must run IT with other things
equal, and not let it run YOU. I've got the schoolhouse insured for
thirty thousand dollars--special rates too."

The mill-owner smiled. "Sam's head is level! But," he added, "he don't
say much about the new assistant he's sending."

"Only here," he says, "I reckon the man I send will do all round; for
Pike County has its claims as well as Boston."

"What does that mean?" asked the mill-owner.

"I reckon he means he don't want Pine Clearing to get too high-toned
any more than he wants it too low down. He's mighty square in his
averages--is Sam."

Here speculation was stopped by the rapid oncoming of the stage-coach
in all the impotent fury of a belated arrival. "Had