nodded to them and puffed away, saying between his whiffs,--

"How d'ye do, stranger? You agin, Mort? Set daown, both on ye; settin's
jest as cheap as standin' raound here," indicating the bench on the
other side of the door with a blackened thumb.

But neither cared to sit, and Morton lost no time in coming to business.

"He wants to go gunning with us in the morning, Uncle Adam, may he?"

Adam eyed the young man, who returned his gaze with frank, smiling eyes,
without speaking.

"Kin ye shoot?" asked the old sportsman at last.

"A little," modestly.

"Waal, what--tame turkeys?" contemptuously.

"No: I have shot wild ones, as well as prairie-chickens, quail, and--
deer."

"What! Be thet some o' your college sass, naow? I git so full o' thet
every season, it makes me sick!"

"I'm not a college student, and I generally tell the truth. I've lived
West for some years, and have had some good hunting at odd times; but,
to be honest, I don't know anything about your bird-shooting here, and
I'm hankerin' after an experience!"