dian Spring, the next day, amid great excitement, that
a serious fracas had been prevented on the ill-fated boundary by the
dramatic appearance of Uncle Ben Dabney, not only as a peacemaker, but
as Mr. Daubigny the bona fide purchaser and owner of the land. It was
known and accepted with great hilarity that "old marm McKinstry" had
defended the barn alone and unaided, with--as variously stated--a
pitchfork, an old stable-broom, and a pail of dirty water, against
Harrison, his party, and the entire able posse of the Sheriff of
Tuolumne County, with no further damage than a scalp wound which the
head of Seth Davis received while falling from the loft of the barn from
which he had been dislodged by Mrs. McKinstry and the broom aforesaid.
It was known with unanimous approbation that the acquisition of the
land-title by a hitherto humble citizen of Indian Spring was a triumph
of the settlement over foreign interference. But it was not known that
the school-master was a participant in the fight, or even present on the
spot. At Mrs. McKinstry's suggestion he had remained concealed in
the loft until after the withdrawal of both parties and the still
unconscious Seth. When Ford had remonstrated, with the remark that Seth
would be sure to declare the truth when he recovered his senses, Mrs.
McKinstry smiled grimly: "I reckon when he comes to know I was with ye
all the time, he'd rather hev it allowed that I licked him than YOU. I
don't say he'll let it pass ez far ez you're concerned or won't try to
get even with ye, but he won't go round tellin' WHY. However," she
added still more grimly, "if you think you're ekul to tellin' the hull
story--how ye kem to be yer and that Seth wasn't lyin' arter all when he
blurted it out afore 'em--why I sha'n't hinder ye." The master said no
more. And indeed for a day or two nothing transpired to show that Seth
was not equally reticent.

Nevertheless Mr. Ford was far from being satisfied with the issue of
his adventure. His relations with Cressy were known to the mother, and
although she had not again alluded to them, she would probably inform
her husband. Yet he could not help noticing, with a mingling of
unreasoning relief and equally unreasoning distrust, that she exhibited
a scornful unconcern in the matter, apart from the singular use to which
she had put it. He could hardly count upon McKinstry, with his heavy,
blind devotion to Cressy, being as indifferent. On the contrary, he had
acquire