"Good-by, Mr. Yancy--lift Hannibal so that I can kiss him!"
Yancy swung the child aloft. "I think you are such a nice little
boy, Hannibal--you mustn't forget me!" And touching her horse
lightly with the whip she rode away at a gallop.

"She sho'ly is a lady!" said Yancy, staring after her. "And we
mustn't forget Memphis or Belle Plain, Nevvy."

Crenshaw and the squire approached.

"Bob," said the merchant, "Bladen's going to have the boy--but he
made a mistake in putting this business in the hands of a fool
like Dave Blount. I reckon he knows that now."

"I reckon his next move will be to send a posse of gun-toters up
from Fayetteville," said the squire.

"That's just what he'll do," agreed Crenshaw, and looked
disturbed.

"They certainly air an unpeaceable lot--them Fayetteville folks!
It's always seemed to me they had a positive spite agin this end
of the county," said the squire, and he pocketed his spectacles
and refreshed himself with a chew of tobacco. "Bladen ain't
actin' right, Bob. It's a year and upwards since the old general
'died. He let you go on thinking the boy was to stay with you
and now he takes a notion to have him!"

"No, sir, it ain't right nor reasonable. And what's more, he