in equal partners with me on my sister's money," he sneered, "I reckon
I've got to give ye figures and prices, and ask for a permit to run
my own business."

"Seems 'most as if you don't enj'y talkin' business with me,"
observed the Cap'n, with a meek wistfulness that was peculiarly
aggravating to his grouchy partner.

"I'd about as soon eat pizen!" stormed the other.

"Then let's not do it jest now," the Cap'n returned, sweetly. "I've
got something more important to talk about than stumpage. Money and
business ain't much in this world, after all, when you come to know
there's something diff'runt. Love is what I'm referrin' to. Word has
jest come to me that you're in love, too, the same as I am."

The gaunt Colonel glared malevolently down on the sturdy figure
sprawling in the garden chair. The Cap'n's pipe clouds curled about
his head, and his hands were stuffed comfortably into his trousers
pockets. His face beamed.

"Some might think to hear you talk that you was a soft old fool that
had gone love-cracked 'cause a woman jest as soft as you be has showed
you some attention," choked the Colonel. "But I know what you're
hidin' under your innocent-Abigail style. I know you're a
jill-poke."

"A what?" blandly asked Sproul.

"That's woods talk for the log that makes the most trouble on the