xtending mood. He glowered at
his adversary and remained standing.

"Phin--" begged Winslow. But Mr. Babbitt, although a trifle paler
than when he entered the shop, was not more yielding.

"I'm particular who I set down along of," he declared. "I'd as
soon set down with a--a rattlesnake as I would with some humans."

Captain Sam was not pale, far from it.

"Skunks are always afraid of snakes, they tell me," he observed,
tartly. "A rattlesnake's honest, anyhow, and he ain't afraid to
bite. He ain't all bad smell and nothin' else."

Babbitt's bristling chin beard quivered with inarticulate hatred.
Winslow sighed resignedly.

"Well," he asked, "you don't mind the other--er--critter in the
menagerie sittin', do you? Now--now--now, just a minute," he
pleaded, as his two companions showed symptoms of speaking
simultaneously. "Just a minute; let me say a word. Phineas, I
judge the only reason you have for objectin' to the captain's bein'
on the Exemption Board is on account of your son, ain't it? It's
just on Leander's account?"

But before the furious Mr. Babbitt could answer there came another
interruption. The bell attached to the door of the outer shop rang
once more. Jed, who had accepted his own invitation to sit, rose
again with a groan.

"Now I wonder who THAT is?" he drawled, in mild surprise.

Captain Hunniwell's frayed patience, never noted for long
endurance, snapped again. "Gracious king! go and find out," he
roared. "Whoever 'tis 'll die of old age before you get there."

The slow smile drifted over Mr. Winslow's face. "Probably if I
wait and give 'em a chance they'll come in here and have apoplexy
instead," he said. "That seems to be the fashionable disease this
afternoon. They won't stay out there and be lonesome; they'll come
in here where it's private and there's a crowd. Eh? Yes, here
they come."

But the newest visitor did not come, like the others, uninvited
into the "private" room. Instead he knocked on its door. When
Winslow opened it he saw a small boy with a yellow envelope in his
hand.

"Hello, Josiah," hailed Jed, genially. "How's the president of the
Western Union these days?"

The boy grinned bashfully and opined the magnate just mentioned was
"all right." Then he added:

"Is Mr. Babbitt here? Mr. Bearse--Mr. Gabe Bearse--is over at the
office and he said he saw Mr. Babbitt come in here."

"Yes, he's here. Want to see him, do you?"

"I've got a telegra