"They say it hurts putty bad." "You ought to know." "Sho nuff; mebbe, then, I do." "I should think so, if you have a good memory." "You bet I've got er good one. Now here, I want you ter 'polyjise ter me." "What for?" "You know, an' you've got ter do it ur suthin' is goin' ter happen." "Something is always happening. If something didn't happen, time would be very dull to some people." "Yas; an' when suthin' do happen, time mout stop ter some people. You've hearn uv fellers what b'l'eves that er pistol sometimes snaps, but er knife don't, hain't you?" "Yes." "Wall, I'm one uv them fellers." "There are fellows, too, that I suppose you have heard of." "Whut sort?" "The kind that would not hesitate a moment to knock you down and kick you across the road. I see your knife, you coward." They had stopped in the road, and were facing each other. "Yas, an' you'll feel----" John knocked him down with a blow, lightning-like in its quickness, and, without waiting for him to get up, resumed his brisk walk. Juckels did not follow, but in a sort of hoarse roar exclaimed: "You'll hear from me in a way that'll make you squeal! see if you don't." When John reached home, he found that the cattle had been fed, and that supper was waiting for him. "Suthin' gwine ter snatch you up one deze nights an' run erway wid you," said Alf, slyly winking at Potter. "Keep on prowlin' 'round de woods at night, an' you'll see bimeby. Set up dar now an' eat some o' dem fish me an' Mr. Potter dun cotch. B'l'ebes da bites in dis airly fall weder better den da do in de spring. Yo' Aunt Liz wuz ober yere terday, an' wuz powerful 'stonished ter see dat we ain't dun starved ter death yit. When she seed deze new cheers an' table it made de ole lady open her eyes, I tell you. Seed dat pizen feller Juckels pokin' roun' down by de river 'bout dinner time. Dat feller ain't gwine ter come ter no good. I lay er rattlesnake gwine ter bite him some day. Huh, an' I lay it'll kill de snake, too." John then related his adventure with Juckels. "Why, you ought to have stamped the life out of the scoundrel," Potter exclaimed. "Don't you know that he might hide behind a tree and shoot you. I will go over to-morrow, see his father, and tell him that unless something is done his son is likely to be badly hurt. Why, it is an outrage." "Doan reckon it is much use ter see his daddy," Alf replied. "W'y, dat feller is older den John, an' I doan reckon his daddy ken do much wid him." "That may be, but something must be done. By the way, this morning while strolling up the river I met two well-dressed men, horseback, who asked me if I knew who was cutting that cedar timber away up beyond Rocky Bend." Alf opened his eyes and straightened up. "You didn' know o' co'se," he said, with the thickness of a half-strangled whisper. "Why, yes; I told them that four or five brothers named Dun were doing it." "Den de Lawd hab mussy on us!" the old negro exclaimed.