the stranger, with a smile.

   "Too bad? I reckon it sho' is. Fer, if Cunnel Blount don't get no b'ah—look out den,

    I

   kin tell you."

   "Gets his dander up, eh?"

   "Dandah—dandah! You know him? Th' ain't no better boss, but ef he goes out huntin' b'ah and don't get no

    b'ah

   —why, den dey ain't no reason gwine

    do

   foh him.

   "Now, when you see Cunnel Blount come home, he'll

   come up along dat lane, him an' de dogs, an' dem no 'count niggers he done took 'long with him; an' when he gits up to whah de lane crosses de railroad track, ef he come' ridin' 'long easy like, now an' den tootin' his hawn to sort o' let us know he's a-comin'—ef he do dat-a-way, dat's all right,—dat's all right." Here the garrulous old servant shook his head. "But ef he don't—well den—"

   "That's bad, if he doesn't, eh?"

   "Yessah. Ef he don' come a-blowin' an' ef he

    do

   come

    a-singin

   ', den look out! I allus did notice dat ef Cunnel Blount 'gins to sing 'ligious hymns, somethin's wrong, and somethin' gwine ter drap. He hain't right easy ter git 'long wif when he's a-singin'. But if you'll 'scuse me, suh, I got ter take care o' Hec. Jest make yourself to home, suh,—anyways you like."

   The visitor contented himself with wandering about the yard, until at length he seated himself on the board-pile beneath the evergreen trees, and so sank into an idle 

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