2i8 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



widow. He must have given her a fat price on it, 

 for the widow let it go quick an' she wouldn't have 

 let go of anythin' what had a profit on it. 



"What caught the eye o' the stranger, I reckon, 

 was the birds on the place. Old Homblow had the 

 idee that the more birds he had around, the better 

 crops he 'd get. The rest o ' them used to laugh at 

 him, but I always took notice that his crops were 

 the best in the district. 



** There was a right smart plenty o' Bob-Whites 

 on the place, for they'd been let alone ever since 

 Jed Hornblow had been there, forty year an' more. 

 I reckon the crowd down at the village weren't 

 afraid of Hornblow 's gun. It was his wife's 

 tongue they misliked. It was like an ant's bite — 

 left the acid behind. 



**I reckon it was about a week after the widow 

 had gone, that the village crowd reckoned on 

 havin' a little shootin' on Hornblow 's land, seein' 

 that the old lady was gone an' the funeral was 

 nicely over. So six of 'em, Ned Thompson among 

 'em, spite of his bein' game warden, landed on the 

 Hornblow place an ' started in. They said, after- 

 wards, it was a shame to shoot the birds, for they 

 were so tame that yo' could have picked 'em up 

 like chickens an' wrung their necks. Anyhow, 



