come, an' I say if he does he won't put
his foot across my threshold."

"You've got it in for me, Sam, I see," Henley said, still unruffled,
"but this is no time for you and me to settle old scores. The boy is no
blood kin to either of us."

"The law gives me full an' complete charge of 'im till he's of age,"
Pitman snarled, "an' I hain't invited you to put in, an' until I do
you'll be a sight safer on t'other side of that fence. I mean the one
right thar behind you."

The window-sash was raised above, and Dixie looked out.

"He's just dropped to sleep," she announced in a guarded tone. "Please,
Alfred, don't let them talk so loud, and send the doctor up the minute
he comes."

"Very well," Henley answered, softly and reassuringly. Then going close
to the farmer he said in a low voice, "I want to talk to you a minute;
let's walk round the house."

Pitman hesitated, staring doggedly at the speaker, and then shifted his
sullen gaze to the face of his wife.

"Go on with 'im," she said, and turned stiffly into the lark doorway
behind her.

Silently Henley led Pitman round the house to the little barn-yard in
the rear. There was a red-painted road-wagon near the wagon-shed and
Henley sat down easily on the strong pole and began to search through
his pockets for a cigar and matches. He grunted in disappointment when
he found his pockets empty, and then deliberately applied himself to the
matter in hand.

"Looky here, Sam Pitman," he began, "for a long-headed, sensible
mountain-man you are plunging into more serious trouble than any chap of
your size ever got into. I'm going to let you on to a thing that a
fellow usually keeps quiet--I'm going to do it because I feel that it is
my Christian duty not to be a party to the great disaster you are on the
brink of."

"I don't know what you mean, an' I don't care a damn," growled Pitman.
"I know what my rights are, an' that's all I'm talkin' about."

"I started to tell you, when you busted in," said Henley, swinging his
feet beneath him, "that I'm a member of the grand jury, and you may or
may not know that when a fellow is impaneled in that body he's got a
sworn job on his hands that is powerful exacting. He is on his oath to
report to the authorities any criminal irregularity that comes under his
notice. Now! I have had the word and the judgment of a respectable and
truthful lady that the boy bound to you by law is dangerously and
critically sick, and, calling here in