body! he thes
natchally dribbles at the mouth when he gits a whiff from the
dinner-pot."

Certainly no one would have supposed that Tuck Peevy ever had a
sentimental emotion or a romantic notion, but Grandsir Hightower did him
great injustice. Behind his careless serenity he was exceedingly
sensitive. It is true he was a man difficult to arouse; but he was what
his friends called "a mighty tetchy man" on some subjects, and one of
these subjects was Babe. Another was the revenue men. It was generally
supposed by Peevy's acquaintances on Lost Mountain that he had a
moonshine apparatus over on Sweetwater; but this supposition was the
result, doubtless, of his well-known prejudice against the deputies sent
out to enforce the revenue laws.

It had been the intention of Chichester to remain only a few days in
that neighborhood; but the Hightowers were so hospitably inclined, and
the outcroppings of minerals so interesting, that his stay was somewhat
prolonged. Naturally, he saw a good deal of Peevy, who knew all about
the mountain, and who was frequently able to go with him on his little
excursions when Abe Hightower was otherwise engaged. Naturally enough,
too, Chichester saw a great deal of Babe. He was interested in her
because she was young and beautiful, and because of her quaint
individuality. She was not only unconventional, but charmingly so. Her
crudeness and her ignorance seemed to be merely phases of originality.

Chichester's interest in Babe was that of a studiously courteous and
deferent observer, but it was jealously noted and resented by Tuck
Peevy. The result of this was not at first apparent. For a time Peevy
kept his jealous suggestions to himself, but he found it impossible to
conceal their effect. Gradually, he held himself aloof, and finally made
it a point to avoid Chichester altogether. For a time Babe made the most
of her lover's jealousy. After the manner of her sex, she was secretly
delighted to discover that he was furious at the thought that she might
inadvertently have cast a little bit of a smile at Mr. Chichester; and
on several occasions she heartily enjoyed Peevy's angry suspicions. But
after a while she grew tired of such inconsistent and foolish
manifestations. They made her unhappy, and she was too vigorous and too
practical to submit to unhappiness with that degree of humility which
her more cultivated sisters sometimes exhibit. One Sunday afternoon,
knowing Chichester to be away, Tuc