“He looked to me like that gentleman,” and the speaker indicated the consumptive teacher.
This remark naturally led to a critical examination of the teacher, and the man next to him, on the impulse of the moment, moved a little farther away.
“You are sure you are not the man?” asked one of the farmers jocosely.
The teacher smiled.
“If I am,” he said, “I don’t think you would any of you feel very much afraid of me. I suspect that I shouldn’t be a success as a road agent. I haven’t the necessary physique. You are better equipped by nature for it than I.”
“I’ve got considerable muscle, that’s a fact,” said the farmer, who was a broad-shouldered, stalwart man. “But you don’t often find men of my build in the ranks of these gentry. They are more apt to be—well, like our friend here,” and he laid his hand on the shoulder of the black-eyed man.
“You compliment me,” said the latter, opening his mouth and showing a set of very white teeth. “I will tell my employer, when I reach ’Frisco, that I have been compared to Stephen Dike.”
“No offence, my friend!”
“None is taken. Indeed, I do consider it rather a compliment, for Dike is quite celebrated in his line.”
“Better be quite unknown than to be celebrated in that way!” observed the teacher.