The old Kentuckian slowly shook his head from side to side.

"If yo' don' win out by courtesy," he said, "it's jes' because yo'
haven' been courteous enough, because yo' haven' taken yo' man jes'
right. Thar isn't any such thing as bein' too gracious. An' anyway, a
census-taker with any other idee up hyeh would be runnin' chances right
along."

"You mean they would shoot him up?" asked Hamilton.

"I think if he threatened some folks up hyeh an' in the gullies thar
might be trouble."

"But the fact that he represented the government would insure him from
harm, I should think."

"I don't think much of that insurance idee," the old man said. "I can't
remember that it helped the revenue men sech a great deal. The only
insurance I ever had was a quick ear, an' even now, I c'n hear a twig
snap near a quarter of a mile away. An' that used to be good insurance
in the ol' days when, if yo' weren't gunnin' for somebody, thar was
somebody gunnin' fo' you."

"But there's no one 'gunning' for you now, is there, Uncle Eli?" asked
the boy amusedly.

"I haven't b'n lookin' out especially," the Kentuckian responded, with
an answering slow smile, "an' I reckon sometimes that I might jes' as
well leave the ol' rifle in the house when I go out."