"I know, Mother," he said grimly. "It's for the sake of Janie's half
that I'm takin' in the other."

"But--but, Zelotes, don't you think he seems like a nice boy?"

The twinkle reappeared in Captain Lote's eyes.

"I think HE thinks he's a nice boy, Mother," he said. "There, there,
let's go to bed."



CHAPTER II


The story of the events which led up to the coming, on this December
night, of a "half-breed" grandson to the Snow homestead, was an old
story in South Harniss. The date of its beginning was as far back as the
year 1892.

In the fall of that year Captain Zelotes Snow was in Savannah. He was in
command of the coasting schooner Olive S. and the said schooner was then
discharging a general cargo, preparatory to loading with rice and cotton
for Philadelphia. With the captain in Savannah was his only daughter,
Jane Olivia, age a scant eighteen, pretty, charming, romantic and
head over heels in love with a handsome baritone then singing in a
popular-priced grand opera company. It was because of this handsome
baritone, who, by the way, was a Spaniard named Miguel Carlos Speranza,
that Jane Snow was then aboard her father's vessel. Captain Lote was not