round thar. An' I got no good o' that thar shoat, 'kase the bar hed
him, but I hed to pay fur him all the same. An' dad gin his
cornsent ter Nate ter let me work a month an' better fur him, ter
pay out'n debt fur the shoat."

"What work be you-uns goin' ter do?" Birt had a strong impression,
amounting to a conviction, that there was something behind all this,
which he was slowly approaching.

"Why," said Tim, in surprise, "hain't ye hearn bout'n Nate's new
land what he hev jes' got 'entered' ez he calls it? He hev got a
grant fur it from the land-office down yander in Sparty, whar he hev
been."

"New land--'ENTERED!'" faltered Birt.

Tim nodded. "Nate fund a trac' o' land a-layin' ter suit his mind
what b'longed ter nobody but the State--vacant land, ye see--an' so
he went ter the 'entry-taker,' they calls him, an' gits it
'entered,' an' the surveyor kem an' medjured it, an' then Nate got a
grant fur it, an' now it air his'n. The Gov'nor o' the State hev
sot his name ter that thar grant--the Gov'nor o' Tennessee!"
reiterated Tim pridefully. "An' the great seal o' the State!"

"Whar be the land?" gasped Birt, possessed by a dreadful fear.

His face was white, its muscles rigid. Its altered expression could
not for an instant have escaped the notice of Timothy's brother
Nathan.