"I heard you was comin'," he shouted, hailing him cheerily by
name. "Ain't fishin' this time!"
"No," said Hale, "not this time."
"Well, git down and rest a spell. June'll be here in a minute an'
you can ride back with her. I reckon you air goin' that a-way."
"June!"
"Shore! My, but she'll be glad to see ye! She's always talkin'
about ye. You told her you was comin' back an' ever'body told her
you wasn't: but that leetle gal al'ays said she KNOWED you was,
because you SAID you was. She's growed some--an' if she ain't
purty, well I'd tell a man! You jes' tie yo' hoss up thar behind
the mill so she can't see it, an' git inside the mill when she
comes round that bend thar. My, but hit'll be a surprise fer her."
The old man chuckled so cheerily that Hale, to humour him, hitched
his horse to a sapling, came back and sat in the door of the mill.
The old man knew all about the trouble in town the day before.
"I want to give ye a leetle advice. Keep yo' mouth plum' shut
about this here war. I'm Jestice of the Peace, but that's the only
way I've kept outen of it fer thirty years; an' hit's the only way
you can keep outen it.
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