know, which if little or much is enough for me. And I wouldn't be
fit to go with you out into the big world and cut a figger in it,
which couldn't be no figger but a figger naught. And Atkins who
knows more than me, he says the same."

The tears were in Lahoma's eyes. She looked from one to the other,
her little face deeply troubled. Suddenly she grabbed up her books
and started toward the stove. "Then this here civilizing is going
to stop," she declared.

"Lahoma!" Brick cried in dismay.

"Yes, it is--unless you promise to stay with me when I go to live
in the big world."

"Honey, I'll promise you this: When you are ready to live out
there, I'll sure go with you and stay with you--if you want me, when
the time comes."

Lahoma seized his hand, and jumped up and down in delight.

"It's a safe promise," remarked Bill Atkins dryly.



CHAPTER IX
A YOUNG MAN'S FANCY


One evening in May, a tall lithe figure crept the southern base of