be done, while his long-limbed associate was duller witted and
undecided.

Joe and Joshua maintained their sitting position till the stranger
was within a rod or two, when he hailed them.

"How are ye, strangers?" he said.

"Pretty comfortable," said Joshua, reassured by his words. "How fare
you?"

"You're a Yank, ain't you?" said the newcomer, disregarding Joshua's
question.

"I reckon so. Where might you hail from?"

"I'm from Pike County, Missouri," was the answer. "You've heard of
Pike, hain't you?"

"I don't know as I have," said Mr. Bickford.

The stranger frowned.

"You must have been born in the woods not to have heard of Pike
County," he said. "The smartest fighters come from Pike. I kin whip
my weight in wildcats, am a match for a dozen Indians to onst, and
can tackle a lion without flinchin'."

"Sho!" said Joshua, considerably impressed.