"Mighty easy. I'll see that he's sent on a little ahead of the others to guard the road in front, and you must give strict orders that no firing is to be done until this one is safely through the gate. When he hears the first shot he can then look out for hisself, an' let the ones behind do the best they can." "So _you_ want to come out with a whole skin?" said the Squire, with a keen glance at his visitor. "I didn't say anything about myself; I said a friend." "All right! I understand. The man in front is to get away, but the rest are to be bagged. You'll give me the full particulars of the proposed raid tomorrow evening, then?" said the Squire, rising from his chair, to signify that the interview was at an end. "Yes; an' when I come again, you'll have the rest of the money ready for me?" The Squire nodded. "Have it in small bills," the visitor suggested. "I can pass 'em easier." A few minutes later the front door was closed upon the mysterious visitor, and the Squire came back into the room softly rubbing his hands with apparent satisfaction. Indeed, his next words signified as much. "Ah! my dear nephew!" he cried, gleefully; "before many more nights have passed I think I will have you in a ticklish position where your love affairs will not run as smoothly as you might wish. Then comes _my_ opportunity." CHAPTER VII. Court day brought ever a large and motley crowd to town. It is the farmer's levee, his monthly holiday--a proper time for friendly intercourse and barter. Usually busied in the field or about the farm, he sees little of the social or business world except through the medium of county court day. On such occasions most of the tillers of the soil quit work and come in from the surrounding country and the neighboring hills--even from further outlying villages and adjacent counties. Some come on business, some on pleasure bent, but whether for recreation or profit, a goodly crowd convenes, the day in itself an all-sufficient excuse for the act. A Kentucky court day possesses a marked social feature peculiarly its own. The men meet friends and neighbors in a social mood; renew acquaintances of long standing, and enjoy making new ones; they exchange political opinions, disseminate local news, trade, swap, buy or sell; the women come to town, exchange country produce for shopping bargains, and learn something of the prevailing mode from their more stylish sisters who are in closer touch with the outer world. Occasionally it comes to pass that personal grievances and feuds of long standing, or even family differences, are settled by a court day encounter, wherein the all-too-ready knife or pistol helps to play the tragic part; but oftener a spirit of good-fellowship prevails, and the social glass binds friendly neighbors into boon companions.