"I remember the story," said Bob, "though I don't recall the one particular 'possum used by Simon as an illustration. But I remember that Simon took me on his back one night, out into the woods where the dogs had treed one. It must have been long after Simon told the 'possum story, for I don't think that old Wolf went with us. He must have been dead."
"Yes, he was," the old man agreed. "I recollect the night. A coon was treed in an enormous oak, and the boys were a long time in cutting it down. Do you remember, Dan?"
"Yes, sir," I spoke up. "It was the night that Mr. Bill Putney was killed in town by Mr. Tom Ellis Gray."
"That's a fact," said the old man. "But how do you happen to associate the two events?"
"Why, when we came back to the house, a boy was waiting for you. They wanted you to come to town and go on a bond."
"But that couldn't have fastened it on your mind. What else was there? Out with it, sir."
"Why, Old Miss got mad at me for coming through the hall and slapped me off the front steps."
"Ah, that was it," he said, musing. "And it seems long ago, even to me, much longer than happenings thirty years before."
"Dan," said Young Master, "get my horse. But wait a moment. You may hitch up the buggy if you want to go over to Potter's with me."