"Yes, an' I will!" answered the man, with emphasis. "Jest you try me, Tom, an' see ef I don't."
"Very well," said Tom. "I believe you. Now, what I want isn't much. We boys down there in Camp Venture ran out of something to eat the other day, and we nearly starved for a time. Finally, by good luck, we got a bear, and we have more than half of it left, and of course, now that the snow storm has passed away, I can get more game as we need it. But we haven't had any bread for more than a week, and we're hungry. So I have come out here to look for you, to see if you can't get me a bag of ground-up corn or rye from one of the stills. I have money with me with which to pay for it."
"But you can't pay fer it, Tom," said the man solemnly. "They ain't any body around the still now, 'cause it's knocked off runnin' fer the next week er so, but they's plenty of ground corn an' rye there, an' I'll bring you all you kin carry of it, ef you'll wait here fer fifteen minutes, an' not a cent to pay."
"But it doesn't belong to you?" said Tom.
"No, in course not. I don't own no still. I wish I was rich enough."
"Then of course I can't let you give me the meal. I must pay full price for it or I'll go without it."
"But say, Tom, that stuff ain't never measured up or weighed up, an' nobody'd ever miss a bagful or two. Why, I carry a small bagful of it to my cabin every mornin', jest as a sort o' safeguard like fer the little gal till blackberry time comes. I'll bring you a bagful an' I tell you it shan't cost you a cent."
"And I tell you," said Tom, "that I won't take an ounce of it on any such terms. That meal belongs to other people. I want some of it—just as much as I can carry to Camp Venture with me—but I must pay for every ounce of it or I won't take any of it. I never steal, and I don't intend to let you steal for me."
"Oh, it ain't stealin' like," answered the man; "you see people never care fer what they lose ef they don't know that they loses it."
"I don't suppose I can make you understand," said Tom, realizing the utter inability of the mountaineer's mind to grasp an ethical principle, even of the simplest kind, "but I tell you plainly that I want this bagful of corn meal if you'll let me pay honestly for it, and otherwise I don't want it at all, and won't take it. I would rather see every boy in Camp Venture starve than do a dishonest thing."