d thickness of
his chest while they tended to conceal the length of his arms. A few
months before he'd been in the death house at Auburn. Through the
efforts of Deforrest Young, the dean of the Law College at Cornell, he'd
been pardoned and sent home.

The gigantic squatter removed his pipe from his mouth and smoothed the
thready white beard, straggling over his chin.

"Nope, I hated 'im," he muttered. "He done me dirt 'nough. If it hadn't
been fer Tess an' Lawyer Young, he'd a hung me sure."

"Ye didn't git the deed to yer shack land afore he died, did ye, Orn?"
interrupted "Satisfied" Longman. "Tessibel told ma the preacher promised
it to ye."

A moody expression settled in Skinner's eyes. "So he did promise it," he
explained. "He writ Tess a letter. He said as how he were sorry for his
meanness an' would give me the deed. But he didn't!"

A shrill voice calling his name brought "Satisfied" Longman to his feet,
and he hobbled away toward the shack.

"'Pears like 'Satisfied' ain't got much strength any more," said
Skinner. "He ain't been worth much of anythin' sence I got back."

"Him an' Ma Longman've failed a lot sence Myry an' Ezry died," agreed
Jake. "An' no wonder! Them two didn't amount to much to my way o'
thinkin', but their pa an' ma set considerable store by 'em ... Ben
Letts were a bad 'un, too. It used to make me plumb ugly to see 'im
botherin' Tess when ye was shet up, Orn, an' him all the time the daddy
of Myry's brat."

"Yep, Ben were bad," agreed Skinner. "I were sure he done the shootin',
but 'tweren't till Ezry swore he saw 'im that the lawyer could prove I
didn't do it. But Tess says Myry loved Ben. Women air queer critters,
ain't they?"

"Myry sure was," assented Brewer, thoughtfully. "In spite of Ezry's
tellin' her, Ben'd most drowned him, an' done the killin' they was goin'
to hang you fer, up she gits an' takes the brat an' goes off with Ben.
It were the worst storm of the year. No wonder him, Myry an' their brat
all was drowned."

Longman, coming out of the shack, overheard the last remark. The other
two fell silent. After he'd sat down again, he dissipated their
embarrassment by saying,

"But Tess says Myry air happy now 'cause she air got Ben. Fer myself, I
dunno, though. But, if Myry air satisfied, me an' ma air satisfied,
too."

The other two nodded in solemn sympathy. After a moment, Jake took out
his pipe and filled it. Holding the lighted match above the bowl, he
glanced