"'Hello!' I says, 'what are you whipping your kid for? He's down there crying his heart out.'
"'Well, I don't keer,' he says, 'he's got to quit pestering his grand-pap. The old man is gitting feeble and don't like to be disturbed, and that boy is always pelting him with stones.'
"'Where is the old man?' I asks at last, and he points to a room in behind.
"It was one jest like this—you couldn't hardly see and it smelled kind of dead-like and close—and when I looked around I couldn't find nothing but an old, dried-up bundle of bones. Well, I tiptoed my way out of there and I says to the old timer—the one that was trimming his corns:
"'Your father ain't alive—he's dead!'
"'No he ain't!' he says, 'he only seems that way. But you take him down and throw him into the crick and let him soak for a while and he'll tell you about things that happened a thousand years ago!'"
Meshackatee threw back his head and joined in the laugh which followed his chef-d'œuvre and then he leaned over and nodded at Hall while he took him into confidence with a wink.
"On the level, now," he said, "ain't you an officer of the law? You've sure got that man-hunter look. No? Nothing like that? Well, all right then, I'll quit guessing—you was going in to join the Bassetts."
He nodded again, wisely, but the stranger shook his head and tugged at his bonds impatiently.
"No," he said, "I never heard of the Bassetts till I asked about the Basin in Tonto. And I never heard of the Scarboroughs until the livery-stable keeper recommended them highly as Southern gentlemen. It appears he was mistaken, for I never met men yet who were their match for out-and-out insolence; but did it ever occur to you that a man might be going through here on business that concerned no one but himself? You have been connected with the Bassetts, and the Scarboroughs have trapped you—very well, join whichever side you will. But I for one will never join either, for I know what these family feuds lead to. I have seen whole counties plunged into a war that has lasted for twenty years; I have seen brave men—yes, and women and children, too—shot down and their murderers unpunished. I left my own home to escape just such conditions as these Scarboroughs are trying to bring on, and, without professing any knowledge of the rights of the matter, I maintain that both sides are wrong. Whatever their differences they should endeavor to reconcile them before things have gone too far; for after the first shot, after the first man has been killed, his blood will cry out for more. Then brother must avenge brother and fathers their sons; and so on forever, as far as I know, or until God performs some miracle. And you, my friend, if you will take my advice, will withdraw from this quarrel now; because after the first bloodshed it will be too late—you cannot desert your friends. I know whereof I speak, for I come from Kentucky where there is never an end to these wars; and so I entreat you, for you seem a good man, to flee from this feud while you can."