ave a hold on him that he can't very well shake off.
He'll beat me out of my own as long as he can, but old Miz Nature's got
her eye on him. Yes, I'll try it again and next year I'll let you sell
the crop. But say, John, at one time I had them fellows on the hip, and
if I had cashed in at the right time I would have hit 'em big. Get your
horse and we'll hook the satchel over the horn of the saddle."

Along the road they walked toward home, the Major leading the horse. For
a time they were silent, and then the Major said: "As I came along I was
thinking of that bully from Natchez. He would have killed me with his
Derringer if you hadn't broken his arm with your cane."

"Oh, yes; that red-headed fellow. It has been a long time since I
thought of him. How the pleasant acquaintances of our younger days do
slip away from us."

"Yes," the Major laughed, "and our friends fall back as we grow old.
Friendship is more a matter of temperament than----"

"Of the honesty of the other party," Gid suggested.

"Yes, you are right. Honesty doesn't always inspire friendship, for we
must be interested in a man before we can become his friend; and mere
honesty is often a bore."

When they reached the gate that opened into Gid's yard, the Major shook
hands with the old fellow and told him to resume his authority as if
nothing had happened to interrupt it.

"I will, John; but something has happened to interrupt it, and that
interruption has been my second birth, so to speak. I passed away at
twelve o'clock and was born again just now. I won't try to express my
feelings, I am still so young; for any profession of gratitude would be
idle in comparison with what I am going to do. I've got your friendship
and I'm going to have your respect. Come in and sit awhile, won't you?"

"Not now, but I'll come over to-night."

"Good. And remember this, John; I'm going to have your respect."

CHAPTER XVII.

With a generous and perhaps weak falsehood the Major sought to assure
his wife that Gid had paid a part of his debt, and that a complete
settlement was not far off, but with a cool smile she looked at him and
replied: "John, please don't tax your conscience any further. It's too
great a strain on you. Let the matter drop. I won't even say I told you
so."

"And as much as you might want the subject to be dropped you can't let
it fall without reminding me--but we will let it drop; we'll throw it
down. But you have your rights, Margar