at
and the master heard him say his letters, without the book, and nodded
his head as though to say to himself that such quickness was exactly
what he had looked for. By the time Chad had learned down to the letter
O, Melissa was ready, for she was quick, too, and it was her anger that
made her miss--and the two started home, Chad stalking ahead once more.
To save him, he could not say a word of thanks, but how he wished that
a bear or a wild-cat would spring into the road! He would fight it with
teeth and naked hands to show her how he felt and to save her from harm.

The sunlight still lay warm and yellow far under the crest of Pine
Mountain, and they had not gone far when Caleb Hazel overtook them and
with long strides forged ahead. The school-master "boarded around" and
it was his week with the Turners, and Chad was glad, for he already
loved the tall, gaunt, awkward man who asked him question after
question so kindly--loved him as much as he revered and feared him--and
the boy's artless, sturdy answers in turn pleased Caleb Hazel. And when
Chad told who had given him Jack, the master began to talk about the
faraway, curious country of which the cattle-dealer had told Chad so
much: where the land was level and there were no mountains at all;
where on one farm might be more sheep, cattle, and slaves than Chad had
seen in all his life; where the people lived in big houses of stone and
brick--what brick was Chad could not imagine--and rode along hard,
white roads in shiny covered wagons, with two "niggers" on a high seat
in front and one little "nigger" behind to open gates, and were proud
and very high-heeled indeed; where there were towns that had more
people than a whole county in the mountains, with rock roads running
through them in every direction and narrow rock paths along these
roads--like rows of hearth-stones--for the people to walk on--the land
of the bluegrass--the "settlemints of old Kaintuck."

And there were churches everywhere as tall as trees and school-houses
a-plenty; and big schools, called colleges, to which the boys went when
they were through with the little schools. The master had gone to one
of these colleges for a year, and he was trying to make enough money to
go again. And Chad must go some day, too; there was no reason why he
shouldn't, since any boy could do anything he pleased if he only made
up his mind and worked hard and never gave up. The master was an
orphan, too, he said with a sl