When he and Andy had had the trouble at the store, the two men who had been compelled to pay for the broken glass had gone off in anything but a happy frame of mind, and the young auctioneer had then remarked to his partner that they might have trouble with the men should they chance to meet them away from police protection.
Matt saw at once that the negroes recognized him, and that his reception would be far from agreeable. Had he been less courageous he would have turned and fled, but as it was, he stood his ground.
All three of the colored men had been seated around a kitchen table playing cards, but at his 230 entrance the two who had been the primary cause of the former trouble sprang to their feet and came toward him.
“Huh! what brings yo’ heah?” demanded the ringleader of the mischief-makers wrathfully.
For the instant Matt hardly knew how to reply. He recognized his mistake in coming to the cottage, and he was anxious now to make as early a departure as possible.
“Do you live here?” he asked boldly.
“Yes we do,” returned the colored man.
“Then I have made a mistake in coming here. I thought some one else might live here.”
And he took a step backward to the door.
“Hol’ on!” exclaimed the colored man, coming still closer. “What brung yo’ heah?”