“I want a receipt in full,� he said, as he produced the money due Bothan, and then, taking leave of him, he added:—“The last debt I owe will be paid to-day, and I have paid every debt as fast as I was able to do so. You would have received yours just as promptly, had you not tried to take the bread away from my family to get it.�
For a distance their route lay through a grand old forest of large trees. The boy was jubilant as he saw, first a striped squirrel, then a red one, then a gray, and then:—
“Oh, look quick, pop; what was that? It looked like a squirrel, but it flew, or rather it sailed, from one tree to another.�
“A flying squirrel.�
“And there’s a rabbit. Oh, now I begin to see why you call this God’s country.�
About noon they reached their destination, the farm of Phillips Porter, in Sprucemont, where they were expected, and where a substantial meal was awaiting them.
“You have been very patient with me,� said Wycliff, as he paid Porter about one hundred dollars, the last debt he owed. Mr. Porter told again to-day, (and he seemed to enjoy telling it,) the story of how he came to leave Papyrus.
“It was many years ago, and Mack Baldwin, father of the present generation of paper-makers, was in control, although Zechariah and David were young men then, just learning the business. The Baldwins were not then so completely in control of the town of Papyrus as they are now. Captain Bolton Wesson, who built the paper-mills at Papyrus Center, was a broader and better man than Mack Baldwin, and the two were often opposed to one another in town-affairs.
“Captain Wesson wanted the town-hall located at the Center, the natural and proper place for it, but Mack Baldwin demanded that it be built at the West End, the part of the town which he owned. At the approaching town-meeting, every employee of Mack Baldwin was warned to vote for locating the hall at the West End. At the town-meeting Baldwin had spotters to take the names of any of his employees who voted against him. I was working in his mill then, but I voted for building the hall at the Center. Next morning I was called into the mill-office, where I met Mack Baldwin and his sons, Zechariah and David. David is the present Congressman.
“Mack Baldwin handed me my pay, at the same time calling me a vile name. Now, in those days I had never met a man who could handle me,—�