Page:The Curious Republic of Gondour, and Other Whimsical Sketches.djvu/28

14 with which he always read his charge to the jury, or administered an oath to a witness:

Presently my father took out of his breast pocket an imposing “Warranty Deed”, and fixed his eyes upon it and dropped into meditation. I knew what it was. A Texan lady and gentleman had given my half-brother, Orrin Johnson, a handsome property in a town in the North, in gratitude to him for having saved their lives by an act of brilliant heroism.

By and by my father looked towards me and sighed. Then he said:

“If I had such a son as this poet, here were a subject worthier than the traditions of these Indians.”

“If you please, sir, where?”

“In this deed.”