miles from the city station, the farm two and a half miles from Exeter
station, and the wagon road not so direct as the railroad. The trip to
the farm, therefore, could not be much less than forty miles, and would
require the best part of two days. The three men whom I had engaged
reported for duty, as also did Thompson's son, whom we are to know
hereafter as Zeb.

Early on the last day of the month the men and teams were off, with
cooked provisions for three days. They were to break the journey
twenty-five miles out, and expected to reach the farm the next
afternoon. Polly and I wished to see them arrive, so we took the train
at 1 P.M. August 1st, and reached Four Oaks at 2.30, taking with us Mrs.
Thompson, who was to cook for the men.

Before starting I had telephoned a local carpenter to meet me, and to
bring a mason if possible. I found both men on the ground, and explained
to them that there would be abundant work in their lines on the place
for the next year or two, that I was perfectly willing to pay a
reasonable profit on each job, but that I did not propose to make them
rich out of any single contract.

The first thing to do, I told them, was to move the large farm-house to
the site already chosen, about two hundred yards distant, enlarge it,
and put a first-class cellar under the whole. The principal change
needed in the house was an additional story on the ell, which would give
a chamber eighteen by twenty-six, with closets five feet deep, to be
used as a sleeping room for the men. I intended to change the sitting
room, which ran across the main house, into a dining and reading room
twenty feet by twenty-five, and to improve the shape and convenience of
the kitchen by pantry and lavatory. There must also be a well-appointed