"Hold on, Mr. Jucklin. I want the property made over to me in regular form when I have paid you for it. I will accept of no concession; want to pay as much as Mr. Parker would have paid, and I have borrowed money enough to close the deal. You are going away and you will need every cent you can possibly raise; and I demand that you take the two hundred dollars that I have collected for you. It will be of no use to say that you will not, for I am determined, and, although you have been very kind, you will find me a hard man to fight. And remember that there is a debt to be paid." He held out his hand and looked over toward the General's house as I gripped his rough palm. "I have buried 'em over by the edge of the woods," he said; "buried 'em with their gaffs on. I couldn't help it--they had to fight to a finish. Yes, it shall be as you say. I will pay what I owe and still have money enough to get away off somewhere. We'll draw up the papers in town and have it over with at once." "Mr. Hawes, I've got a hundred dollars that's yours," said old man Perdue. "I have brought the money, and here it is." "I can't take it, Mr. Perdue. I haven't earned it, and shall not earn it. I am not going to teach your school." "The deuce you say! Why, my grandson thinks there ain't nobody in the world like you--says you can whip any livin' man. You must teach that school." "No, I am going to study law with Judge Conkwright." "What, with him? Don't you do it. Why, there ain't a harder hearted man on the face of the earth than he is. Smart as a whip, but he don't go to church once in five years. Oh, you needn't smile, for it's a fact. Not once in five years, and what can you expect from a man like that? Oh, he'll grind you into the very ground. Ain't got a particle of feelin'." "I expect him to teach me the law and I can get along with my present stock of religion. But even if he were to offer me his religion, I would accept it. I know him better than you can ever know him. But we have no cause to discuss him. No, I can't take your money." "But you have earned some of it. Twenty-five dollars, at least." "Well, I will take that much." "Take it all," said Parker. "No, twenty-five," I replied. "You are your own boss," Perdue observed; "you know best. Here's your twenty-five, and I'll make it fifty if you'll send out word that the new man, whoever he may be, mustn't go into the creek. You are the sort of a reformer that this community has needed. Well, gentlemen, I've got to get home. Issue your proclamation, sir, and send for the other twenty-five." Parker said that it was time for him to go, and, adding that he would meet Jucklin in town, left us at the door. Mrs. Jucklin was brighter than I had expected to find her, and when I told her what Conkwright had said, that Alf would surely be acquitted, the light of a new hope leaped into her eyes. "I told Limuel that God would not permit such a wrong," she said. "Didn't I, Limuel?"