"They will spend the summer here; and when they go, I think I shall go too," I answered.
"I reckon, boy, from what I know on't, that you belong to a good family. If you do, your bringin' up won't be no disgrace to you. I don't reckon there's many boys in the towns that know any more'n you do."
"What makes you think he belongs to a good family, Kit?" asked Mr. Jackson.
"From the traps he had on when Matt picked him up. There was sunthin' else, too. What I was go'n to say, boy, was this: I'm gittin' old, and can't run through the woods as I used to. Twenty mile a day rather wears on me. I don't reckon I shall do much more trappin', and when you go, boy, I'll buy your place at a fair price."
"You needn't buy it, Kit. You can take it. I wish you would come down and live with me now."
"Do you wish so, boy?"
"I do, with all my heart. I shouldn't have been alive now if you hadn't stood up against the Indians when they came."
"Don't say nothin', boy; I'll come right off. But when you leave, I'll buy the place, for Matt owned it just as much as any man could own a piece of ground. I cal'late he took out the gov'ment papers for it."
"You shall have it all, Kit, and be welcome to it, so far as I am concerned," I persisted.
"Had Matt any heirs?"