DISAGREEMENT WITH RUTKIN. 219 



Meantime the work of the farm went on, and the 

 maize was planted ; but a change came over the spirit 

 of our society. Rutkin, who had hitherto been friendly 

 and good-natured, became snappish and domineering, 

 and once or twice ventured to give me orders in a 

 tone that I did not choose to bear ; but as he had been 

 only a short time in Arkansas, I made excuses for him, 

 laughed at him, took my gun, and absented myself for 

 above twenty-four hours. On my return, he was 

 always wise enough to act as if nothing had happened, 

 and to see that giving orders Avas of no use. He had 

 also frequent disputes with Kean. Haller agreed with 

 him best, because he always flattered him, and coincided 

 with him before his face, though this was by no means 

 the case behind his back. 



One day when I was out shooting, R. attacked K., 

 who was small and slight. To avenge himself, Kean 

 took down his rifle, and would have shot Rutkin, had 

 not Haller thrown himself between them. Our friendly 

 relations were now quite broken up. Kean came over 

 to Haller's, where I was living, and we withdrew from 

 the partnership, which was more than R. had reckoned 

 on, as, knowing the state of our finances, he thought 

 he had us under his thumb. He did not consider 

 that I had a rifle, that there was plenty of game in 

 Arkansas, and that there was a river running to New 

 Orleans, where Kean, who was an excellent accountant, 

 could make sure of a good situation. 



We were soon ready to start. I was to take K.'s 

 things in a canoe to Little Rock, while he was to follow 

 on horseback. But the 4th of July approached, 

 on which day a farmer on the Fourche le Fave was 



