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 wood. "Yes, it was to-day, wasn't it? Sir, it seems to me like I have been here a hundred years!"

"I want you to wear Ed's gun when you meet 'em. That's the biggest recommend I can give you—that I thought you fit to pack that gun."

"I'll have to get me a coat, sir, and some other things. I'm not presentable to ladies to-night. I beg you, sir, to put it off another day."

"Well, we can't go to-morrow night, 'cause there's an icercream festibul at the Methodist church, and Sallie and her ma they're head and heels into it. But I tell you what we can do: we can go to the festibul."

"I'll get trimmed up a little for it."

"Trimmed up?" Uncle Boley looked him over with questioning stare. "I don't see what more a man needs when he's got a good pair of boots and his hair combed."

"Customs differ in different places, sir. To-morrow I'll have to see if I can find something to do, Uncle Boley. I can't afford to be idle many days."

Uncle Boley sat thoughtfully silent a while, gathering his beard in his hands like a sheaf of grain.

"The association wants to hire two or three trail-riders, I hear," he said at last.