Mark lay down until supper was ready. Upon his return to the kitchen he said that he felt as spry as ever. He didn't look exactly right, however. His nose was swollen, his lower lip was puffed and cut and one cheek was skinned and bruised. Peter and Sam Ducat arrived home from burning brush in the back pasture within a minute of Mark's reappearance. Mark made the introductions. "This here's Jim Todhunter, the Yankee dood who's livin' with the Hammonds," he said. The three shook hands heartily. Then Peter Ducat stared at his son, stepped closer and stared again. "What the jumpin' tarnation hev you been hammerin' with yer face?" he asked. "Jim's fists," answered Mark. "I hammered them real hard, but I didn't do 'em much hurt, I guess." Then he repeated the story of the fight, without dissembling. His father and his uncle listened with keen attention, glancing frequently from the speaker to the silent guest, their tanned faces and dark eyes expressive of changing emotions. "I told ye so!" exclaimed Peter. "I warned ye. Now when I was Cock o' the River, afore the rheumatiz put a crimp into me, I allers sized a stranger up--meanin' a man from outside--afore I give 'im the dare to fight. Cuffin' logs an' the like o' that's different, for there's ony one best way at that game an' that's the way we do right here on Racket River--but there's a dozen ways o' fightin'. Yes, a dozen ways an' maybe more, an' a man wants to be danged careful how he jumps into a scrap with a stranger." "Where'd ye larn _yer_ way?" asked Sam of Jim. "At school," replied Jim modestly. "Hah! Hark ye to that, now!" cried old Archie McKim. "Ain't I allers been tellin' ye the vartues o' eddication? But ye didn't heed me. Oh, no! Reckoned I didn't know! Wouldn't go to school, laughed at book-larnin'. Serves ye damn well right!" "Hell! An' it was the girl we sent downriver to school!" exclaimed Peter Ducat, looking at his wife. Supper was a success. The food was plentiful and good. Conversation was general and lively. Mark ate and talked as well as any one and showed no chagrin over his defeat. The grandfathers argued, told stories of their youth and prime and constantly contradicted each other. The mother was kept busy with urging everyone to eat and drink and with bringing more food from stove and pantry to the table. The father and uncle talked of the river and the woods and their adventures. Supper was over by seven o'clock, and no sooner was the table cleared than a knock sounded on the door and Melchior Hammond entered the kitchen. He was cordially received by all the Ducats.