saw him at the Forks the other day, Toby," Mr. Sherwood replied.

"Yaas. I heard about that," said the old man drawlingly. "But since
then?"

"No."

"Wal, he was tellin' me that he'd got you on the hip this time, Hen. If
you as much as put your hoof over on that track he's fighting you about,
he'll plop you in jail, that's what he'll do! He's got a warrant all
made out by Jedge Perkins. I seen it."

Uncle Henry walked closer to the old man and looked down at him from
his great height. "Tobe," he said, "you know the rights of that business
well enough. You know whether I'm right in the contention, or whether
Ged's right. You know where the old line runs. Why don't you tell?"

"Oh, mercy me!" croaked the old man, and in much haste. "I ain't goin'
to git into no land squabble, no, sir! You kin count me out right now!"
And he picked up his axe, restored the whetstone to its sheath on the
wall, and at once went out of the shack.

Chapter XV. A CAT AND HER KITTENS

That was a breakfast long to be remembered by Nan Sherwood, not
particularly because of its quality, but for the quantity served. She
had never seen men like these lumbermen eat before, save for the few
days she had been at Uncle Henry's house.

Great platters of baked beans were placed on the table, flanked by the
lumps of pork that had seasoned them. Fried pork, too, was a "main-stay"
on the bill-of-fare. The deal table was graced by no cloth or napery of
any kind. There were heaps of potatoes and onions fried together, and
golden cornbread with bowls of white gravy to ladle over it.

After riding twenty-five miles through such a frosty air, Nan would have
had to possess a delicate appetite indeed not to enjoy these viands. She
felt bashful because of the presence of so many rough men; but they left
her alone for the most part, and she could listen and watch.

"Old Toby Vanderwiller tell you what Ged's been blowin' about, Henry?"
asked one of the men at the table, busy ladling beans into his mouth
with a knife, a feat that Nan thought must be rather precarious, to say
the least.

"Says he's going to jail me if I go on to the Perkins Tract," growled
Uncle Henry, with whom the matter was doubtless a sore subject.

"Yaas. But he says more'n that," said this tale bearer.

"Oh, Ged says a whole lot besides his prayers," responded Uncle Henry,
good-naturedly. Perhaps he saw they were trying to bait him.

"Wal, 'tain't nothin' prayerful he's sayin',"