Balaam scratched his head.
"I don't know that hit's my duty to do that, Bob.

Hit's my duty to serve it on to you.

But I can tell you what's into hit, leavin' out the law--which don't matter nohow." At this juncture Uncle Sammy's bent form emerged from the path that led off through the woods in the direction of the Bellamy cabin.

With the patriarch was a stranger.

Now the presence of a stranger on Scratch Hill was an occurrence of such extraordinary rarity that the warrant instantly became a matter of secondary importance.
"Howdy, Charley.