let me say, neighbor- nau a sab. that the men who built Damory Court hood is not splendid of art.” unaware of the sense of beauty and generosity which le responsible for share deviltry, too.” “And their of the present lack of which you speak.” put In the doctor. Valiant put out his hand with a “I suppose so.” admitted his host. little gesture of deprecation, but the “At this distance I can bear even that. disregarded deeply other it. "Confound It, Company But good or bad. I’m thankful ¦ah, it was to expected of Seed Virginia. be a Va- The Lamar that they chose Since I’ve liant. ancestors wrote browsing in Your their been laid up. I’ve been the names capital —’’ in letters over this library here country. They were an up and down “A bit out of date now\ I reckon.” lot, but good or bad (and, as Southall said the major, ‘but it used to pass says, nodded toward the grandfather was some- I reckon” —he muster. Your great portrait above the oouch —“they & thing of a book-worm. He wrote a weren't all little woolly lambs) they WOOD history of the family, didn’t lie?” did big things in a big way.” COAL it. The Valiants “Yes. I’ve found Valiant leaned forward eagerly, a of Virginia.’ I’m reading the Revolu- question on his lips. But at the mo- Canon City Lump and Nut, Camer- tionary chapters now. It never seemed ment a diversion occurred In the real before —it’s been only a slice of shape of Uncle Jefferson, who re-en- history. impersonal and rather dull tered, bearing a tray on which set sun- But the book has made it come alive. dry Jugs and clinking glasses, glow- on Lump, Pea coal and Anthracite I’m having the thrill of the globe- ing green and gold. the with white and trotter the first time he sees Tow- humbug.” said the doctor, or of "You old er of London the field Waterloo. "don't you know the major's that poi- out All screened at bin I see more thin that stubble-field soned with mlntrjuleps already that he yonder; I see a big wooden stockade get up eight morn- ragged blue can't before In the with soldiers In buff and ing?” guarding it.” "Well, suh,” Uttered Unde Jeffer- Pea major “Ah, yes,” he Trinidad Mine Run, andOSlack The nodded. son, "Ah done tonn' or mint-bald down said. “The Continental prison-camp.” T&- rise there I can below de kitchens dls mawilin'. not screened “And just over this gemmun’ blgges' expuhts mixed, conrt-houae, Vir- all 'bout de see an old and the In dls yeah oounty, Ah reek's Assembly boiling under the en ginia Mars’ Valiant sho* ’slst on 70' sam- golden tongue-lashing of lean raw- plin’ I see a messen- et” boned Patrick Henry. "Bah,” said the major feelingly, HAY ROCK SALT ger gallop up and see the members turning to his host, *Tm proud to to their saddles —and then, scramble your health in the typical bev- Tarleton and his red-coats streaming drink Sheep volt, Rock erage of Virginia!” He touched Baled Prairie, Alfalfa and Evaporated up. too late.” glasses glared at the “Well,” doctor delib- with Valiant and commented the doctor, who was sipping his own erately, I to say Is, don’t lampjand ground “all have thoughtfully. have been writ- Straw salt in to Poly "Poemn materialise too much Mrs. ten on Julep, you meet the sah.” Gilford when her. She’ll "They make good epitaphs, ob- you lecturing to I wadies’ too/* have the served the doctor. Church Guild before you know It.” your glass lent going Poultry &SlockSuppU« hope you Mr. Valiant?” the "I noticed **l ride. begging,” major Cotton SeedJProduct, genially. the retorted. "Une* latter asked as good grew full line of Lou *, Con- *Tm fond of It,” Mid Valiant, "but Jefferson, that's mint as Wm havu a gyarden that have horse aa yet." In the of Eden. Bee I ao lasy niggers of don't grub “I was thinking.” pursued the ma- those yours Cotton Cake ami Mool, pom jET'bJSnUS. patch by J jor. ”of the coming tournament” the out mistake.” "Yas, sah,” said Uncle Jefferson, as Q"'" “Tournament?” tray. "Ah gwlae- sue Cabt and Linutd Moot g Tbe doctor cut in. ”A ridiculous he retired with the ter put er fence eroun’ dat bald tat oock-a-doodle-do which gives the young , ar sundown.” The question that had sprung to Valiant’s Ups now found utterance. "1 FIELD SEEDS saw you look at the portrait them” he said to the major. "Which of my Fancy Alfalfa, Sweet Clover, Cane, Oat», Barley , ancestors Is It?” The other got up and stood before Corn, Rice Com, Maize, Hemp, the mantel-piece In a Napoleoaks atti- Speltz, Jerusalem tude. “That,” be said, fixing his eye- glasses, *is your great-grandfather, Rape, and many others. Also the much talked about Devil-John Valiant.” “Devil-John!” echoed his hod. Ttt Feterita seed, the senior of the dry land country. I*vohoard the name.” The doctor guffawed. "He earned it, I reckon. I never realised what h sinister expression that mlastag optla gives the old rulfian. Thera was h skirmish during the war on the hill- Company ’ side yonder and a bullet out It ost Seed boys aatt Lamar we wo used to The When were him ‘Old One-Eye.*” "It interests me enormously,” Join Valiant spoke explosively. of Devil-John would fill Qet Up and "The stories The Other Btood Before a big book," major. the a mighty said the “01*4 to know you. sob,” Mid the Mantel Ptsos In Napoleonic ha ought to havu Attitude. "By all accounts major. “Allow mo to congratulate lived In the middle ages.” Grossing you; It'o not every one who goto bit- bucks a chanoe to rig out in silly tog- the library, be looked Into the dining- ten by one of thoee infernal mocca- gery and pranoe their colts before a lot room "I thought I remembered. The sins that Uvea to talk about It You of petticoats!" portrait over the console there Is his must be a pet of Providence, or elee “It’s an annual affair,” explained the wife, your great-grandmother. They you have a cast-iron oonetttutlon. major; “a kind of spectacle. For say he bet-that when he brought his •ah.” many years, by tbe way, it has been brldo home, she should walk Into Da- Valiant waved his band toward tha held on a part of this estate—perhaps mory Court between rows of candle- man of medicine, said. “I objection twenty-thousand VALIANTS of VIRGINIA who reckon you no to its use stlcks worth dollars. 8lilrl«y was will have The Mil-* the Providence In this season? —and at night there is a Ho made the wager good, too, tor rorHUßffy the ?r.*e Bhe had aenae enough to dance at the Country Club. By the when she came np those stops out by «?wy them. don' tell Mis' Judith— no. sub! ing its bright red pigment, lay what one knows that be has ances- scientist,” laughed Valiant. "My It killed hla horse, too. That's en to see story. run out ter de stable saddle hah been a rose. tors. But rm beginning that point of view has to be a somewhat the To be sure at date bad nobody boss, en she gallop up dst road tar He stood looking at It abstractedly, what yon coll the ancestral Instinct practical one. I must be self-support- can separate fact from flo- tlon. Possibly Hell’e-Half-Aore Ink er shot oaten er bis nostrils widening to Its crushed Moil a locality and a place. In a ing. Damory Court is a big estate. he wasn’t so much way seems worse than shovel.” epicy scent, then closed It and allppod It to me that an old estate It has grain lands and forest aa well. the rest of hie neighbors Valiant brought bis bands together his pocket. like this has a soul too—a sort of If my ancestors lived from It, I can. —not excepting the parsons. *Othsr It Into ” •harply. "In, TOO." k* uli elan or family soul that reacts on the It's not only that,” he went on more times, other manners.’ "They then?" CHAPTER XVI. descendant.’’ slowly, "I want to make the most of weren’t any worse the eome ter Oreef Haft "Rather a Japan esy idea, isn't lt?“ the place for its own sake, too. Not present generation,” said the doctor "When ehe malevolently. eabln, he done toon’ de laddeh, ea eae In Devil-John’e Day. observed the major. “But I know only of Its possibilities for earning, "Your four bottle men foot, was de rung. Ho had sitting when what yon mean. Maybe that's why old but of Its natural beauties. I lack the then knew only claret: now they er he on Ha waa still motionless leh if*- er ex In he hen’. De per HI pi warn there came a knock at the door and it Virginian families hang on to their resources I once had. but I can give whiskey-straight.” down thoo' de oraakd of da admit the gruff voice of land In spits of hell and high-water. it thought and work, and if they can The major buried hla nose In hla peepin' opened to julep flo', en prayin' de beetle' the ha ear Doctor Southall A big form was close They count their forebears real live bring Damory Court back to anything for a long moment before he artanrehde dat eha people, quite capable of turning over even remotely resembling what it once looked nt the doctor blandly. 'T agree how. She ear behind him. you, reck'n do Good Lewd eea' er eaaeL -Hell Up. I eeo I took the liberty in their graves.” was, I*ll not spare either.” with Bristow.” he said: "but It's fo 1 Mle' Shirley were ell la white—- of bringing Major Bristow.” "Mine are beginning to seem very The major smote his knee and even the first time I ever heard you admit face a grim, if that much good of your aha dicin' atop tor chance hah due The master of Damory Court came real to me. Though I don’t even tbe doctor’s showed ancestors” eey nuffln. Hie* Shirley forward —limping the leaat trifle—and know their Christian names yet. I can transient approval. "I believe you'll "Good!” said the doctor belligsrent- She dldn’ (Continued dldn'. She oo'y ley hah haa' oa Onat shook hands. jaige them by their handiwork. The da It!” exelalmed tbe former. "And on Page 8)