itse'f framed up perpetyooal to enjoy any one of the five, an'
tharfore at the said summons comes troopin', as I say. "'My
grandfather is the first Sterett who invades Kaintucky, an' my
notion is that he conies curvin' in with Harrod, Kenton, Boone an'
Simon Girty. No one knows wherever does he come from; an' no one's
got the sand to ask, he's that dead haughty an' reserved. For
myse'f, I'm not freighted to the gyards with details touchin' on my
grandfather; he passes in his chips when mebby I'm ten years old,
an' the only things about him I'm shore of as a child, is that he's
the greatest man on earth an' owns all the land south of the Ohio
river.

"'This yere grandfather I'm talkin' of,' continyoos the Colonel
after ag'in refreshin' himse'f with some twenty drops, 'lives in a
big house on a bluff over-lookin' the Ohio, an' calls his place "The
Hill." Up across one of the big stone chimleys is carved "John
Sterett," that a-way; which I mentions the same as goin' to show he
ain't afeard none of bein' followed, an' that wherever he does come
p'intin' out from, thar's no reward offered for his return.'

"'I ain't so shore neither,' interjects Texas Thompson. 'He might
have shifted the cut an' changed his name. Sech feats is frequent
down 'round Laredo where I hails from, an' no questions asked.'

"'Up on the roof of his ranch,' goes on the Colonel, for he's so
immersed in them mem'ries he don't hear Texas where he rings in his
theeries, 'up on the roof my grandfather has a big bell, an' the
rope is brought down an' fetched through a auger hole in the side of
the house, so he can lay in bed if he feels like it, an' ring this
yere tocsin of his while so minded. An' you can bet he shorely rings