"Do you know what that means, Starbuck?"
The old man puffed at his pipe, drew the blazing paper through his hand, put out the fire, removed his pipe, studied a moment and said: "Yes. It means that I may have to kill you."
CHAPTER VI.
HADN'T LISTENED.
Not another word was spoken, and Peters went out, turning with a sullen look as he reached the road. For a moment he stood there and then skulked on away, met a dog in the road and kicked at him. When Margaret re-entered the room Jasper was walking up and down with his hands behind him. The old man began to tell a story: "Feller down in the bottoms owned a calf that had wool on him like a sheep; uster ter shear him every spring, and one time he—"
"Jasper, didn't Peters say he was a comin' after you?"
"Margaret, is it possible that you've been listenin' to two men talkin' business? Now, business is a sort of a sacred thing. A feller in the Bible says, 'I'd like might'ly to go to yo' little dinner, but I've got to break a yoke of steers an' you must 'skuze me.' So, Margaret, you must never interfere with bisiness."
"But didn't you say suthin' about that you might have to kill him? Didn't you?"
"Huh. We must have been talkin' about a sheep that broke his leg. When a sheep breaks his leg, you know, he's about gone. Mighty hard thing to cure a sheep, makes no diffunce what's the matter with him. Feller over near Smithfield had a sheep once that—"