sh and a bark. "Dumb beasts an' children worships
Smiles--an' hit haint scarse to be wondered at, fer she love 'em all.
An' she's more rememberful than her grandpappy. Yo' see, we don't
gener'ly hev milk fer our coffee, 'ceptin' when company comes."

In some distress at this frank announcement, Donald said, "But I don't
like to have you put yourselves out for me. I wouldn't have stayed
if...."

"Now, don't let thet idee disturb ye a mite. We're glad ter hev ye with
us, an' what fer air friends ef hit haint ter be an excuse fer a leetle
extry celebration? Set down, set down thar."

Donald obeyed, and, while his host moved ponderously about, depositing
the contents of a bundle which he had brought, studied his surroundings
curiously. It was his first experience within a real "feud country"
cabin, and he was interested to see how closely its appearance coincided
with what his imagination had painted from reading fiction woven about
them. To his quiet delight he found that it might almost have served as
an illustration for such a book, as, one by one, he mentally checked off
the salient features. There were the hand-hewn timbers of wall and
unsheathed ceiling; the yawning rough stone fireplace with its wrought
iron crane, and, above it, a rifle whose unusual length proclaimed its
ownership; the strings of dried herbs and red pepper pods--few, to be
sure, and dusty with age--suspended from the rafters; and, in one
corner, a crude ladder leading into the loft.

Only one thing was missing, the wall-beds or bunks, for the hand of
civilization had pointed to one improvement, and doors, obviously not a
part of the original simple structure, opened into a small addition,
roughly partitioned into two sleeping rooms. They were of equal size,
but there was no need of labels to proclaim their occupants, for one was
so nearly filled with a bed which would have served for Golden Locks'
biggest bear, that the rough clothing which was suspended from wooden
pegs on the opposite wall hung against it, whereas the other contained,
besides a narrow bed, a small chest of drawers with a cheap mirror above
it, and a chair. The one window was draped with a daintily-flowered
material, which Donald decided was calico, a cover of the same material
lay across the chest, and on it--in the place of honor between an old
comb and brush stood a small blue-and-white jar, whose cheaply glazed
surface caught the flicker of the fire and winked at him as tho