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"'Tain't more'n a mile furder on." But first they came to a deserted place, a strip more than half a mile wide, where the trees had been cut in a broad belt through the swamp. All Nan could see was sawdust and the stumps of felled trees sticking out of it. The sawdust, Toby said, was anywhere from two to twenty feet deep, and there were acres of it.
"Know you Sir Percevall's friend, Lady Rebecca?" asked Elizabeth. "Why, yes, your Majesty. He and I came over together from Peltonville. I believe he's after a patent." "A patent? What mean you? Doth he ask for a patent of nobility a title? Can this be the suit of the fat knight?" "I don't know," said Rebecca. "'Tain't nothin' 'bout nobility, I'm sure, though.
"I tell you, perfusser, ther sooner you git them thar measurements a-measured, and we're hiking out of this neck of the woods, the better I'll be pleased. 'Tain't natural, all these queer goings on." "Maybe a coyote or something scared them," suggested Ralph. "And them used ter seeing 'em every day," scoffed Pete. "Guess again, son.
"Wonder what Mas'r Dick's got on his heart dis yer night?" she muttered, bustling about to prepare supper; "'tain't sech music as dat yer organ make lately. 'Pears like somethin' was de matter, anyhow."
The captain said hoarsely, "I don't suppose I don't suppose I'll ever see you again!" She looked at him affrightedly and shrank back from the window. He seemed to have woefully expected a reception of this kind for his question. He gave her instantly a glance of appeal. She said, "Why, no, I don't suppose we will." "Never?" "Why, no, 'tain't possible. You you are a Yankee!"
'Tain't above er mile back, whar I seed it," she cried, leaning out, eagerly scrutinizing each inch of the barren ground. "Stop! Here 'tis!" she cried. "I knowed I smelt the bitter on 't somewhars along hyar;" and in a few minutes more she had a mass of the soft, shining, gray, feathery leaves in her hands, and was urging the horses fiercely on their way back.
"And that was ?" queried Hilda. "Why, ye see, Huldy, Father had been a sea-farin' man all his days, an' he'd seen all manner o' countries an' all manner o' folks; and 'tain't to be wondered at ef he got a leetle bit confoosed sometimes between the things he'd seen and the things he owned.
'Tain't a man, so it isn't. Many's the man that's lost his hat, an ain't lost his life. It's a windy place here, an ole Solomon's hat's a mile too big for him, so it is 'deed an it is." Captain Corbet shook his head more gloomily than ever. "Ow, sure an ye needn't be shakin yer head that way. Sure an haven't ye lost hats av yer own, over an over?" "Never," said the captain. "I never lost a hat."
It was five-and-twenty past five when the last of us came in with his breakfast. But before he could reach his place there was a loud blast of a whistle, and a distant voice shouted, "On Parade!" The irritation that had been accumulating since reveillé burst out. "Why can't they let yer finish yer breakfast 'tain't 'alf-past yet, not be a long way!" "They treat yer like pigs!"
'No, said Uncle Eb, ''tain't no swindle. Barker thought he hed a gran' good thing. He got fooled an' the fool complaint is very ketchin'. Got it myself years ago an' I've been doctorin' fer it ever sence. The story of David's undoing hurt us sorely. He had gone the way of most men who left the farm late in life with unsatisfied ambition.
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