Jubal looked up in perplexity, his fat forehead wrinkling.
"You ain't countin' in eatin', I s'pose?" he replied doubtfully.
Nicholas shook his head.
"No, leave out eating," he said.
"An' the splittin' open of that durn livered Spike Turner?"
"Yes, that too."
Jubal whittled slowly, his forehead wrinkling more deeply.
"Then I don't know whether it's to give ma a rest or to own Billy Flinders's coon dog, Boss," he said.
Nicholas laughed for an instant, but the laugh softened into a smile.
At the table he asked his stepmother and Sairy Jane about the spring chickens, and they answered with surprised eagerness.