something right off, and so he wrote as pretty a
letter to the old man as ever I want to see; but when the answer came
it said his uncle was very sick, and as he had something particular
to say to him, wouldn't Clint come over at once, and inclosed he'd
find the money for his fare. I tell you this stumped Clint, for he'd
had another fight, and was a picture to behold.

"But here's where the surprise to us all came in. Clint was pretty
well puzzled what to do, and while all the boys were advising him,
Kirby spoke up. I'd noticed he was pretty quiet, but nobody could have
guessed what he was thinking about. He looked some like Clint, and
once had been pitched into by a new Digger Run boy for Clint. The
fellow never made the second mistake about them. It wasn't as though
they were twins, but they both had brown hair and long beards, blue
eyes, and were about the same build, so you couldn't have made a
descriptive list of the one that wouldn't have done for the other.
What Kirby said was that Clint's uncle hadn't seen him since he was a
boy, and he'd expect to find him changed; and although he--that's
Kirby, you know--had had hard feelin's to Clint, he wasn't a man to
hold a grudge, and he'd let bygones be bygones. So if Clint thought
well of it, he'd go over to Cambria, and if he found the land lay
right he'd pass off for him, and make things sure.

"This struck us all of a heap, for we knew Kirby could do it if he
choose and if nobody interfered with him, and that he really could
cajole the old man better than Clint could; for when that fellow got
wound up to talk he was allers going you five better. Some of the boys
thought it rather risky, and they wanted Clint to write and say he
had the typhoid fever, and so stave it off until he looked fit to go;
but he knew that if he crossed his uncle now he'd likely enough lose
everything, and so he thought it best to make sure and let Kirby go
and see, anyhow. One thing that helped Kirby along was that his first
wife had come from Cambria, and he'd heard her talk so much about the
people that he knew nearly as much of them as Clint did. To make the
matter sure, Clint stuffed him with all he remembered, and one night
we got up a-practising; and we made out that we were the folks, and
Kirby pow-wowed to the minister, and old Miss Cranby--that was
me!--and the doctor, until he knew his lesson and we'd nearly split
our sides laughing.

"Of course, seeing the interest we all took i