the subject may have differed from that of his host,
but he refrained from making any reply, and at once began to speak
concerning the purpose of his visit.

"Jip Collins is goin' to work some kind of a racket on you, an' I reckon
I can guess pretty nigh what it is. He was makin' a good deal of talk
this afternoon, an' it seems as though the time had come when you'd
better have your eyes open."

"Jip's allers had a good deal to say since I told him he couldn't sleep
here any longer; but it never 'mounted to anythin'."

"But look here, Seth, this time I b'lieve he'll do some mischief. He's
been tellin' that he'll give you a chance to show how much of a fireman
you are, an' I heard him talkin' 'bout touchin' a match to shavings,
so's to smoke you out, till I've made up my mind that he's goin' to set
fire to this place."

Seth laughed derisively.

"I ain't 'fraid of a feller like him."

"Then it's all right, an' no harm done in my tellin' you; but if I was
in your place I'd keep my eyes open pretty wide. Now, Jip Collins can't
scare me a little bit; but yet if I was in a snap like this, an' I knew
he'd threatened to set fire, it would kind er stir me up a bit."

"Don't you go to thinkin' I ain't glad 'cause you told me, Sam, for I am,
only it don't stand to reason a feller like Jip Collins can do much of
anythin'."

"Don't you be so sure of that," Dan Roberts cried. "I've heard somethin'
'bout what Jip's been sayin', though I never b'lieved he had it in his
head to burn the place up; but this much is sure: if it could be done
without his takin' too many chances, he's jest the kind of a feller what
would try it. He claims that, accordin' to the trade, you give him the
right to stay in this place jest as long as _you_ did, and that it was
the same as swindlin' him when I come in."

"He knows better than that. I told him we'd try it a spell, an' see how
we got along; the very first night I went all over the business with
him, an' said if we couldn't hitch together easy like, why we didn't
want to stay in the same place, an' he was satisfied with it. Now, I
don't see how I can do anythin' if he's bent on settin' fire to the
shed, more'n lookin' 'round pretty sharp before I go to bed."

"If I owned this place same's you do, I should set up nights, 'cause
then's when he'll try his game," Sam said with an air of wisdom. "It
ain't likely he'll come 'round here in the daytime; but after the men
have gone away from the