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Little Rock. I will do what I can to find space on it for you and the stock."

    I said, "I want three hundred dollars for Papa's saddle horse that was stolen."

    He said, "You will have to take that up with the man who has the horse."

    "Tom Chaney stole it while it was in your care," said I. "You are responsible."

    Stonehill laughed at that. He said, "I admire your sand but I believe you will find I am not liable for such claims. Let me say too that your valuation of the horse is high by about two hundred dollars."

    I said, "If anything, my price is low. Judy is a fine racing mare. She has won purses of twenty-five dollars at the fair. I have seen her jump an eight-rail fence with a heavy rider."

    "All very interesting, I'm sure," said he.

    "Then you will offer nothing?"

    "Nothing except what is yours. The ponies are yours, take them. Your father's horse was stolen by a murderous criminal. This is regrettable but I had provided reasonable protection for the animal as per the implicit agreement with the client. We must each of us bear our own misfortunes. Mine is that I have temporarily lost the services of my watchman."

    "I will take it to law," said I.

    "You must do as you think best," said he.

    "We will see if a widow and her three small children can get fair treatment in the courts of this city."

    "You have no case."

    "Lawyer J. Noble Daggett of Dardanelle, Arkansas, may think otherwise. Also a jury."

    "Where is your mother?"

    "She is at home in Yell County looking after my sister Victoria and my brother Little Frank."

    "You must fetch her then. I do not like to deal with children."

    "You will not like it any better when Lawyer Daggett gets hold of you. He is a grown man."

    "You are impudent."

    "I do not wish to be, sir, but I will not be pushed about when I am in the right."

    "I will take it up with my attorney."

    "And I will take it up with mine. I will send him a message by telegraph and he will be here on the evening train. He will make money and I will make money and your lawyer will make money and you, Mr. Licensed Auctioneer, will foot the bill."

    "I cannot make an agreement with a child. You are not accountable. You cannot be bound to a contract."

    "Lawyer Daggett will back up any decision I make. You may rest easy on that score. You can confirm any agreement by telegraph."

    "This is a damned nuisance!" he exclaimed. "How am I to get my work done? I have a sale tomorrow."

    "There can be no settlement after I leave this office," said I. "It will go to law."

    He worried with his eyeglasses for a minute and then said, "I will pay two hundred dollars to your father's estate when I have in my hand a letter from your lawyer absolving me of all liability from the beginning of the world to date. It must be signed by your lawyer and your mother and it must be notarized. The offer is more than liberal and I only make it to avoid the possibility of troublesome litigation. I should never have come here. They told me this town was to be the Pittsburgh of the Southwest."

    I said, "I will take two hundred dollars for Judy, plus one hundred dollars for the ponies and twenty-five dollars for the gray horse that Tom Chaney left. He is easily worth forty dollars. That is three hundred and twenty-five dollars total."

    "The ponies have no part in this," said he. "I will not buy them."

    "Then I will keep the ponies and the price for Judy will be three hundred and twenty-five dollars."

    Stonehill snorted. "I would not pay three hundred and twenty-five dollars for winged Pegasus, and that splayfooted gray does not even belong to you."

    I said, "Yes, he does. Papa only let Tom Chaney have the use of him."

    "My patience is wearing thin. You are an unnatural child. I will pay two hundred and twenty-five dollars and keep the gray horse. I don't want the ponies."

    "I cannot settle for that."

    "This is my last offer. Two hundred and fifty dollars. For that I get a release and I keep your father's saddle. I am also