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 prise to the Philistines. He hoped so. So with this new hope in his heart the boy went to bed and slept more peacefully than he had for days.

Halsey thought very little about Dan O'Brien and his curiosity about Palo'mine and his time, after a day or two. At first he was a bit worried about the sinister looking Irishman, but as Jock McBride did not seem to worry he took his cue from him.

But one evening about a week later he was riding into the driveway leading to the stable when Palo'mine's hoof struck a small, square block of wood lying immediately in his path. There was something about the innocent wood that caused Halsey to dismount and pick it up. To his surprise he saw that it had a long savage nail driven in the middle of it with about two inches sticking out. The boy looked at it for several minutes before the full significance of this bit of wood came to him. This was after he had placed it on the ground with the nail up, where it had a savage appearance.

"Gracious, Palo'mine," he said at last,