folks air strangers, but we don't know nothing agin them--"

"And we don't know nothing in their favor," Uncle Sammy
interjected.

"Dave's grandfather came here from Virginia about fifty years
back and settled near Scratch Hill--"

"We never knowed why he left Virginia or why he came here," said
Uncle Sammy, and knowing what local feeling was, was sure he had
shot a telling bolt.

"Then, about twenty-five years ago Dave's father pulled up and
went to Fayetteville. Nobody ever knowed why--and I don't
remember that he ever offered any explanation--" continued the
squire.

"He didn't--he just left," said Uncle Sammy.

"Consequently," pursued the squire, somewhat vindictively, "we
ain't had any time in which to form an opinion of the Blounts;
but for myself, I'm suspicious of folks that keep movin' about
and who don't seem able to get located permanent nowheres, who
air here to-day and away tomorrow. But you can't say that of the
Yancys. They air an old family in the country, and naturally
this co't feels obliged to accept a Yancy's word before the word
of a stranger. And in view of the fact that the defendant did
not seek litigation, but was perfectly satisfied to let matters
rest where they was, it is right and just that all costs should
fall on the plaintiff."