law book for twenty years and now it’s too late.  People of our class”—­here he looked away from his companion and talked straight at the foot of the bed—­“People of our class my boy,” he repeated slowly—­“when they reach the neck and crop period you spoke of, are at the end of their rope.  There are then but two things left—­either to become the inmate of a poorhouse or to become a sponge.  I prefer this bare room as a happy medium, and I am content to stay where I am as long as we three can keep body and soul together.  There is—­so Pawson told me before I left my house—­a little money coming in from a ground rent—­a few months off, perhaps, but more than enough to pay Todd back—­he gives Jemima every cent of his wages—­and when this does come in and I can get out once more, I’m going to order my life so I can make a respectable showing of some kind.”

He paused for a moment, fastened his gaze again on Harry, and continued: 

“As to my going back to Pawson’s, I am not altogether sure that that is the wisest thing to do.  I may have to leave again as soon as I get comfortably settled in my bed.  I turned out at his bidding before and may have to turn again when he says the word.  So don’t kindle too many fires with Pawson’s wood—­I hadn’t a log to my name when I left—­or it may warm somebody’s else’s shins besides mine,” and a merry twinkle shone in his eyes.

Harry burst out laughing.

“Wood or no wood, Uncle George, I’m going to be landlord now—­Pawson can move out and graze his cattle somewhere else.  I’m going to take charge of the hut and stock and the pack mules and provisions—­and with a gun, if necessary—­” and he levelled an imaginary fowling-piece with a boyish gesture.

“Don’t you try to move anybody without an order of the court!” cried St. George, joining in the merriment.  “With that mortgage hanging over everything and Gorsuch and your father cudgelling their brains to foreclose it, you won’t have a ghost of a chance.  Come to think of it, however, I might help—­for a few weeks’ expenses, at least.  How would this do?” Here he had all he could do to straighten his face:  “’Attention now—­Hats off in the court-room.  For sale or hire!  Immediate delivery.  One first-class gentleman, in reasonable repair.  Could be made useful in opening and shutting doors, or in dancing attendance upon children under one year of age, or in keeping flies from bedridden folk.  Apply, and so forth,’ Gadgem could fix it.  He has done the most marvellous things in the last year or two—­extraordinary, really!  Ask Todd about it some time—­he’ll tell you.”

They were both roaring with laughter, St. George so buoyed up by the contagious spirit of the young fellow that he insisted on getting out of bed and sitting in Aunt Jemima’s rocking chair with a blanket across his knees.

All the morning did this happy talk go on:—­the joyous unconfined talk of two men who had hungered and thirsted for each other through weary bitter days and nights, and whose coming together was like the mingling of two streams long kept apart, and now one great river flowing to a common outlet and a common good.