“Do you mean to say that option's for a year? he demanded.
“That is the way it reads—now,” whispered Hiram, watching him closely.
The old man turned the book around slowly on the counter. His stubbed finger pointed to the two or three scrawled lines written in a certain place.
Hiram read them slowly, with beating heart.
CHAPTER XX. AN ENEMY IN THE DARK
The whispered conference between Hiram Strong and the storekeeper could not be heard by the curious crowd around the cold stove; nor did it last for long.
Caleb Schell finally closed his ledger and put it away. Hiram shook hands with him and walked out.
On the platform outside, which was illuminated by a single smoky lantern, a group of small boys were giggling, and they watched Hiram unhitch the old horse and climb into the spring wagon with so much hilarity that the young farmer expected some trick.
The horse started off all right, he missed nothing from the wagon, and so he supposed that he was mistaken. The boys had merely been laughing at him because he was a stranger.