"I don't like that shooting from behind a bush. Why didn't you step into the road, my boy?"

     "The Shepherdsons don't, father. They always take advantage."

     Miss Charlotte she held her head up like a queen while Buck was telling his tale, and her nostrils spread and her eyes snapped. The two young men looked dark, but never said nothing. Miss Sophia she turned pale, but the color come back when she found the man warn't hurt.

     Soon as I could get Buck down by the corn-cribs under the trees by ourselves, I says:

     "Did you want to kill him, Buck?"

     "Well, I bet I did."

     "What did he do to you?"

     "Him? He never done nothing to me."

     "Well, then, what did you want to kill him for?"

     "Why, nothing--only it's on account of the feud."

     "What's a feud?"

     "Why, where was you raised? Don't you know what a feud is?"