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Matt known that he would meet three of the colored men in the cottage in the hollow, it is more than likely that he would not have gone near the place.

When he and Andy had had the trouble at the store, the two men who had been compelled to pay for the broken glass had gone off in anything but a happy frame of mind, and the young auctioneer had then remarked to his partner that they might have trouble with the men should they chance to meet them away from police protection.

Matt saw at once that the negroes recognized him, and that his reception would be far from agreeable. Had he been less courageous he would have turned and fled, but as it was, he stood his ground.

All three of the colored men had been seated around a kitchen table playing cards, but at his