Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/113

 "Just got a shipment of Virginia hams in," he told Samuel Gage, "and I thought perhaps you'd like to have one. They sent a couple more than I can use."

That was Jethro's method. Whenever he wanted a favor of anybody he paid him first. The fact that in this instance it was only a few moments' idle conversation mattered not at all. Jethro Trent accepted gifts from no man without reimbursement and usually the pay was far in excess of the service.

Samuel Gage who had been lolling in a rickety chair on his porch, basking like a beetle in the sun, was awake and alert in an instant He smacked his lips in anticipation of the culinary treat that was in store for him. "That's purty nice o' you," he said. "Purty nice."

Jethro Trent seemed slightly confused. He did not wish sympathy from any man. Nor did he wish praise or thanks. He was usually unemotional in his intercourse with his fellow men and he appreciated it when they were unemotional in return. The War had