ow no reason
why Mr. Dickerson and I should have trouble--unless other neighbors make
trouble for us."

"Right, boy--right!" called Cale Schell, from behind the counter, where
he could hear and comment upon all that went on in the middle of the
room, despite the attention he had to give to his customers.

"Well, if you can git along with Sam and Pete, you'll do well," laughed
another of the group.

The Dickersons seemed to be in disfavor in the community, and nobody
cared whether Pete repeated what was said to his father, or not.

"I was told," pursued the first speaker, screwing up one eye and
grinning at Hiram, "that you broke Sam's gun over his head and chased
Pete a mile. That right, son?"

"You will get no information from me," returned Hiram, tartly.

"Why, Pete ought to be big enough to lick you alone, Strong," continued
the tantalizer. "Hey, Pete! Don't sneak out. Come and tell us why you
didn't give this chap the lickin' you said you was going to?"

Pete only glared at him and slunk out of the store. Hiram turned his
back on the whole crowd and waited at the end of the counter for Mr.
Schell. The storekeeper was a tall, portly man, with a gray mustache and
side-whiskers, and a high bald forehead.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Strong?" he asked, finally having got rid of
the customers who preceded Hiram.

Hiram, in a low voice, explained his mission. Schell nodded his head at
once.

"Oh, yes," he said; "I remember about the option. I had forgotten it,
for a fact; but Pepper was in here yesterday talking about it. He had
been to your house."

"Then, sir, to the best of your remembrance, the option is all right?"

"Oh, certainly! Pollock witnessed it, and I put my seal on it. Yes, sir;
Pepper can make the old lady sell. It's too bad, if she wants to remain
there; but the price he is to pay isn't so bad----"

"You have no reason to doubt the validity of the option?" cried Hiram,
in desperation.

"Assuredly not."

"Then why didn't Uncle Jeptha speak of it to somebody before he died, if
the option had not run out at that time?"

"Humph!"

"You grant the old man was of sound mind?"

"Sound as a pine knot," agreed the storekeeper, still reflective.

"Then how is it he did not speak to his lawyer about the option when he
saw Mr. Strickland within an hour of his death?"

"That does seem peculiar," admitted the storekeeper, slowly.

"And Mr. Pollock says he thinks there is something wrong about t