oor with ye," said Bud, in savage
tones. "Come a-lumberin'."

"Pick 'em up yourself, and next time keep 'em off my counter," was Mr.
Bailey's answer. "What did you put them there for, any way?"

A glance at his friends showed Bud that they expected him to do
something, and he dared not hesitate. He handed the nearest man his
rifle to hold for him, peeled off his coat, gave a yell that was heard a
block away, and was about to jump up and knock his heels together, when
he happened to look toward Mr. Bailey, and stopped as if he had been
frozen in his tracks. The old man was waiting for him. He leaned against
a shelf behind the counter, but he held a cocked revolver in his hand.

[Illustration: MR. BAILEY ASTONISHES BUD GOBLE.]

CHAPTER VIII.

BUD GOBLE'S WATERLOO.

Did Bud Goble leap over the counter and wrench the threatening weapon
from Mr. Bailey's grasp with one hand, while he throttled him with the
other? We are obliged to say that he did not. He stood quite still, for
something told him it would be dangerous to do anything else. This was
the first time his courage had ever been tested, and he was found
wanting; but, strange as it may appear, his friends did not think any
the less of him for it. Under like circumstances they would have showed
the same reluctance to pass the intervening counter. It was not Bud's
lack of courage, but Mr. Bailey's pluck, that excited their ire. The
latter had insulted their friend by refusing him the credit he had
granted a field-hand, and now he had gone so far as to threaten Bud with
a weapon. It opened their eyes to the fact that Union men were dangerous
things to have in the community, and that they ought to have been driven
out long ago.

"Sile, you've got the rifle," said Bud, who gained courage when his
friends closed about him. "Why don't you draw a bead on him an' make him
put that thing down?"

"Can't ye see for yourself that he's got the drop?" replied Silas, who
thought discretion the better part of valor.

"Laws-a-massy, what's the matter of ye?" exclaimed Bud. "He dassent
shoot."

"I don't b'lieve in fightin' no man when he's got the drop," repeated
Silas. "Put on yer coat an' take yer rifle, Bud. This aint the onliest
day there is in the world, an' the next time you ax him for the credit
he's willin' to give a nigger, mebbe he'll hearken to ye."

"Pervided he's able to hearken to anything," observed an