“How did you find things looking, out there?”

“Middling; —­ their winter crops are higher up than yours and mine be.”

“Ay.  I suppose they’ve a little the start of us with the sun.  Did you come through Shagarack?”

“Yes —­ I stopped there a night.”

“Did you see my boys?”

“Yes —­ I see ’em.”

“Well —­ what did they say?” said the father, with his eye alive.

“Well —­ not much,” said Mr. Underhill.

“They were well, I suppose?”

“First-rate —­ only Winthrop looked to me as if he was workin’ pretty hard.  He’s poorer, by some pounds, I guess, than he was when he was to hum last August.”

“Didn’t he look as usual?” said the father with a smothered anxiety.

“There wa’n’t no other change in him, that I could see, of no kind.  I didn’t know as Rufus was going to know who I was, at first.”

“He hasn’t seen much of you for some time.”

“No; and folks lose their memory,” said Mr. Underhill.  “I saw the —­ what do you call him? —­ the boss of the concern —­ president! —­ President Tuttle.  I saw him and had quite a talk with him.”

“The president!  How came you to see him?”

“Well, ’taint much to see a man, I s’pose, —­ is it?  I took a notion I’d see him.  I wanted to ask him how Will and Winthrop was a getting along.  I told him I was a friend o’ yourn.”

“Well, did you ask him?”

“Yes I did.”

“What did he say?” said Mr. Landholm, half laughing.

“I asked him how they were getting along.”

“Ay, and what did he answer to that?”

“He wanted to know if Mr. Landholm had any more sons?”

“Was that all?” said the farmer, laughing quite.

“That was the hull he said, with a kind of kink of his eye that wa’n’t too big a sum for me to cast up.  He didn’t give me no more satisfaction than that.”

“And what did you tell him —­ to his question?”

“I? —­ I told him that two such plants took a mighty sight of room to grow, and that the hull county was clean used up.”

“You did!” said Mr. Landholm laughing heartily.  “Pretty well! —­ pretty good! —­ Have some tobacco, neighbour?”

“How is it?” said Mr. Underhill taking a bunch gravely.

“First-rate, —­ I think.  Try.”

Which Mr. Underhill did, with slow and careful consideration.  Mr. Landholm watched him complacently.

“I’ve seen worse,” he remarked dryly at length.  “Where did you get it, squire?”

“Nowhere short of the great city, neighbour.  It came from Mannahatta.”

“Did, hey?  Well, I reckon it might.  Will you trade?”

“With what?” said Mr. Landholm.

“Some of this here.”

“With you?”

“Yes.”

“Well —­ let’s hear,” said the farmer.

“Don’t you think the post ought to be paid?” said Mr. Underhill, diving into some far-down pockets.