jealous care of himself. He made use of the dull days of mingled
mist and drizzle for hunting, work being clearly out of the
question; one could get about over the brown floor of the forest
in silence then, and there was no sun to glint the brass
mountings of his rifle. The fine days he professed to regard
with keen suspicion as weather breeders, when it was imprudent to
go far from home, especially in the direction of the Crenshaw
timber lands, which for years had been the scene of all his
gainful industry, and where he seemed to think nature ready to
assume her most sinister aspect. Again in the early spring, when
the young oak leaves were the size of squirrel's ears and the
whippoorwills began calling as the long shadows struck through
the pine woods, the needs of his corn ground battled with his
desire to fish. In all such crises of the soul Mr. Yancy was
fairly vanquished before the struggle began; but to the boy his
activities were perfectly ordered to yield the largest return in
contentment.

The Barony had been offered for sale and bought in by Crenshaw
for eleven thousand dollars, this being the amount of his claim.
Some six months later he sold the plantation for fifteen thousand
dollars to Nathaniel Ferris, of Currituck County.

"There's money in the old place, Bob, at that figure," Crenshaw
told Yancy.

"There are so," agreed Yancy, who was thinking Crenshaw had lost
no time in getting it out.

They were seated on the counter in Crenshaw's store at Balaam's