it was valued by others, the Yerbys should
scathless make no unfounded claims. "Ef the truth war knowed, nare one
of 'em afore could tell a book from a bear-trap."

Nehemiah's flush the darkness concealed; he moistened his thin lips, and
then gave a little cackling laugh, as if he regarded this as pleasantry.
But the demolition of the literary pretensions of his family once begun
went bravely on.

"Abner Sage larnt this hyar boy all he knows," another voice took up
the testimony. "Ab 'lows ez his mother war quick at school, but his
dad--law! I knowed Ebenezer Yerby! He war a frien'ly sorter cuss,
good-nachured an' kind-spoken, but ye could put all the larnin' he hed
in the corner o' yer eye."

"An' Lee-yander don't favor none o' ye," observed another of the
undiscriminated, unimportant members of the group, who seemed to the
groping scrutiny of Nehemiah to be only endowed with sufficient identity
to do the rough work of the still, and to become liable to the Federal
law. "Thar's Hil'ry--he seen it right off. Hil'ry he tuk a look at
Lee-yander whenst he wanted ter kem an' work along o' we-uns, 'kase
his folks wanted ter take him away from the Sudleys. Hil'ry opened the
furnace door--jes so; an' he cotch the boy by the arm"--the great brawny
fellow, unconsciously dramatic, suited the action to the word, his face
and figure illumined by the sudden red glow--"an' Hil'ry, he say, 'Naw,
by God--ye hev got yer mother's eyes in yer head, an' I'll swear ye
sha'n't larn ter be a sot!' An' that's how kem Hil'ry made Alf Bixby
take Lee-yander ter work in the mill. Ef ennybody tuk arter him he
war convenient ter disappear down hyar with we-uns. So he went ter the
mill."

"An' I wisht I hed put him in the hopper an' ground him up," said the
miller, in a blood-curdling tone, but with a look of plaintive anxiety
in his eyes. "He hev made a heap o' trouble 'twixt Hil'ry an' me fust
an' last. Whar's Hil'ry disappeared to, en-nyways?"

For the flare from the furnace showed that this leading spirit amongst
the moonshiners had gone softly out. Nehemiah, whose courage was
dissipated by some subtle influence of his presence, now made bold to
ask, "An' what made him ter set store on Lee-yander's mother's eyes?"
His tone was as bluffly sarcastic as he dared.

"Shucks--ye mus' hev hearn that old tale," said the miller, cavalierly.
"This hyar Malviny Hixon--ez lived down in Tanglefoot Cove then--her an'
Hil'ry war promised ter marry, but t