side, whar I put up a barn, thar ain't an acre of it as hasn't been
shifted first this side and then that as fast ez I druv boundary stakes
and fences, and the Harrisons pulled 'em up agin. Thar ain't more than
fifty acres ez I've hed a clear hold on, and I wouldn't hev had that ef
it hadn't bin for the barn, the raisin' alone o' which cost me a man,
two horses, and this yer little finger."

"Put us in possession of even that fifty acres, and WE'LL undertake
to hold the rest and eject those Harrisons from it," returned Stacey
complacently. "You understand that the moment we've made a peaceable
entrance to even a foothold on your side, the Harrisons are only
trespassers, and with the title to back us we can call on the whole
sheriff's posse to put them off. That's the law."

"That ar the law?" repeated McKinstry meditatively.

"Yes," said Stacey. "So," he continued, with a self-satisfied smile
to Cressy, "far from being hard on you, Mr. McKinstry, we're rather
inclined to put you on velvet. We offer you a fair price for the only
thing you can give us--actual possession; and we help you with your old
grudge against the Harrisons. We not only clear them out, but we pay YOU
for even the part they held adversely to you."

Mr. McKinstry passed his three whole fingers over his forehead and
eyes as if troubled by a drowsy aching. "Then you don't reckon to hev
anythin' to say to them Harrisons?"

"We don't propose to recognize them in the matter at all," returned
Stacey.

"Nor allow 'em anythin'?"

"Not a cent! So you see, Mr. McKinstry," he continued magnanimously, yet
with a mischievous smile to Cressy, "there is nothing in this amicable
discussion that requires to be settled outside."

"Ain't there?" said McKinstry, in a dull, deliberate voice, raising his
eyes for the second time to Stacey. They were bloodshot, with a heavy,
hanging furtiveness, not unlike one of his own hunted steers. "But I
ain't kam enuff in yer." He moved to the door with a beckoning of his
fateful hand. "Outside a minit--EF you please."

Stacey started, shrugged his shoulders, and half defiantly stepped
beyond the threshold. Cressy, unchanged in color or expression, lazily
followed to the door.

"Wot," said McKinstry, slowly facing Stacey; "wot ef I refoose? Wot ef I
say I don't allow any man, or any bank, or any compromise, to take up
my quo'r'lls? Wot ef I say that low-down and mean as them Harrisons is,
they don't begin to be ez mean, e