in
command," I said, a little taken back, for I had no good opinion either
of his prudence or his company.

He was four years older than I but I had better judgment, poor as it
was, and our chief knew it.

"The judge told me that I could go but that I should be under your
orders," he answered. "I'm not going to be a fool. I'm trying to
establish a reputation for good sense myself."

We got our dinners and set out soon after one o'clock. Louis wore a
green velvet riding coat and handsome top boots and snug-fitting, gray
trousers. He was a gallant figure on the high-headed chestnut mare which
his father had sent to him. Purvis and I, in our working suits, were
like a pair of orderlies following a general. We rode two of the best
saddle horses in the judge's stable and there were no better in that
region.

I had read the deeds of the men we were to visit. They were brothers and
lived on adjoining farms with leases which covered three hundred and
fifty acres of land. Their great-grandfather had agreed to pay a yearly
rent forever of sixty-two bushels of good, sweet, merchantable, winter
wheat, eight yearling cattle and four sheep in good flesh and sixteen
fat hens, all to be delivered in the city of Albany on the first day of
January of each year. So, feeling that I was engaged in a just cause, I
bravely determined to serve the writs if possible.

It was a delightful ride up into the highlands through woods just
turning green. Full flowing noisy brooks cut the road here and there on
their way to the great river. Latour rode along beside me for a few
miles and began to tell of his sentimental adventures and conquests. His
talk showed that he had the heart of a stone. It made me hate him and
the more because he had told of meeting Sally on the street in Albany
and that he was in love with her. It was while he was telling me how he
had once fooled a country girl that I balked. He thought it a fine joke,
for his father had cut his allowance two hundred a year so that the sum
they had had to pay in damages had kept his nose "on the grindstone" for
two years. Then I stopped my horse with an exclamation which would have
astonished Lord Chesterfield, I am sure.

The young man drew rein and asked:

"What's the matter?"

"Only this. I shall have to try to lick you before we go any further."

"How's that?"

I dismounted and tightened the girth of my saddle. My spirit was taking
swift counsel with itself at the brink of th