ed, gracious, and gilt-framed. It
had been presented to the club two months before by Cuthbertson Scott
Hardee, himself.

"Ike--Ike Peters," said Higgins. "Say, Ike--has he ever paid you for
havin' that took?"

Mr. Peters, who was the town photographer, reddened, hesitated, and then
stammered, "Why, no, he ain't, yet."

"Humph!" grunted Higgins. No one else said anything. One or two took
out pocket memorandum books and went over some figures entered therein.
Judging by their faces the results of these calculations were not
pleasing. Obed was the first to break the painful silence:

"Well!" he exclaimed, sarcastically; "ain't nobody got nothin' to say?
If they ain't, I have. Or, at any rate, I've got somethin' to do." And
he rose and started to put on his coat.

"Hi! hold on a minute, Obed, you loon!" cried Higgins. "Where are you
goin'?"

"I'm goin' to put my bill in Squire Baker's hands for c'lection, and I'm
goin' to do it tonight, too."

He was on his way to the door, but two or three ran to stop him.

"Don't be a fool, Obed," said Higgins. "Don't go off ha'f cocked. Maybe
we're gittin' scared about nothin'. We don't know but we'll get every
cent that's owed us."

"Don't KNOW! Well, I ain't goin' to wait to find out. What makes me
b'ilin' is to think how we've set still and let a man that we never saw
afore last March, and don't know one blessed thing about, run up bills
and RUN 'em up. How we come to be such everlastin' fools I don't see!
What did we let him have the stuff for? Why didn't we make him pay? I--"

"Now see here, Obed Gott," broke in Weeks, the butcher, "you know why
just as well as we do. Why, blast it!" he added earnestly, "if he was to
come into my shop to-morrow and tip that old high hat of his, and smile
and say 'twas a fine mornin and 'How's the good lady to-day?' and all
that, he'd get ha'f the meat there was in the place, and I wouldn't say
'Boo'! I jest couldn't, that's all."

This frank statement was received with approving nods and a chorus of
muttered "That's so's."

"It looks to me this way," declared Higgins. "If the Major's all right,
he's a mighty good customer for all of us. If he ain't all right, we've
got to find it out, but we're in too deep to run resks of gettin' him
mad 'fore we know for sure. Let's think it over for a week. Inside of
that time some of us'll hint to him, polite but firm, you understand,
that we've got to have something on account. A week from to-nig