breakfast biscuits, as if she heard and saw nothing of the
excitement around her.

Very soon, about a dozen young imps were roosting, like
so many crows, on the veranda railings, each one deter-
mined to be the first one to apprise the strange mas'r of his
ill luck.

"He'll be rael mad, I'll be bound," said Andy.

"Won't he swar!" said little black Jake.

"Yes, for he does swar," said woolly-headed Mandy. "I
hearn him yesterday, at dinner. I hearn all about it then,
'cause I got into the closet where missis keeps the great
jugs, and I hearn every word." And Mandy, who had never
in her life thought of the meaning of a word she had heard,
more than a black cat, now took airs of superior wisdom,
and strutted about, forgetting to state that, though actually
coiled up among the jugs at the time specified, she had been
fast asleep all the time.

When, at last, Haley appeared, booted and spurred, he
was saluted with the bad tidings on every hand. The young
imps on the veranda were not disappointed in their hope of
hearing him "swar," which he did with a fluency and fer-
vency which delighted them all amazingly, as they ducked
and dodged hither and thither, to be out of the reach of his
riding-whip; and, all whooping off together, they tumbled,
in a pile of immeasurable giggle, on the withered turf under
the veranda, where they kicked up their heels and shouted
to their full satisfaction.

"If I had the little devils!" muttered Haley, between
his teeth.

"But you han't got 'em, though!" said Andy, with a
triumphant flourish, and making a string of indescribable
mouths at the unfortunate trader's back, when he was
fairly beyond hearing.

"I say now, Shelby, this yer 's a most extro'rnary busi-
ness !" said Haley, as he abruptly entered the parlor. "It
seems that gal's off, with her young un."

" Mr. Haley, Mrs. Shelby is present," said Mr. Shelby.

"I beg pardon, ma'am," said Haley, bowing slightly, with
a still lowering brow; "but still I say, as I said before,
this yer 's a sing'lar report. Is it true, sir?"

"Sir," said Mr. Shelby, "if you wish to communicate
with me, you must observe something of the decorum of a

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