"I dunno; I don't reckon I did. But I feared I hed; but whether I hed or not, it would have been all the same with me. It mought have cost me my life if they'd cotched me, and I left. I travelled across the country till I came to the Ark'saw River, and thar I went to work agin firin' on a steamer. When I got money enough I bought my rifle, and traps, and went into the woods. I hev tramped all over the pararies, and in the end I fotched up here."
"Have you always lived alone?"
"Allus; I hedn't no 'fection for them pesky half breeds, nor them French Kanucks nuther. They are thick enough all along the river, and I allus kep away from 'em. I reckon I got more bufler hides nor any on 'em; but the critters is druv off now. I sold a good many skins of all sorts, and as I never drunk no liquor, I've got the money now. I fotched it down with me t'other day."
"Shall you ever return to Kentucky?"
"I don't reckon I shall; but I mought."
"What became of your mother?"
"She died long afore I kim off. Now, boy, I kin live jest as I want to here, and I'll buy your farm."
"We will talk with Mr. Gracewood about it. I will do whatever he says is right."
My fortunes as a farmer were certainly very satisfactory, and I had no reason to complain. I was to leave my Field and Forest with about fifteen hundred dollars in my pocket; and I could not but ask myself whether I was not going from a certainty to an uncertainty. Farming, in connection with the wood business, had paid well. But then I wanted to see something of the great world, of which I had heard so much. I had a decided taste for some mechanical calling, and I was sure that I could make my way in life if I had fair play. Yet, if my prospects had been far less favorable, I could not have endured the separation from the Gracewoods.
Leaving Kit in the Castle, thinking over his future operations, I went to the house of Mr. Gracewood, in order to consult him in regard to the disposal of the farm. I found him with his pipe in his mouth, playing on the grand piano, and lost in the inspiration of the "Gloria." I could not interrupt him, and I waited till he had finished, which, however, was not till his pipe was exhausted.