“Thar! Eat. Hit’s heart’nin’.”

He was suffering, as she thought, and reached eagerly for the food, but before tasting it he looked up again into her face, and the infantile appeal had returned to his eyes.

“Tell me more ‘bouts maw,” he said.

“You eat, an’ I’ll talk,” she replied. He broke a large piece from the corn-cake and crowded the rest into his pocket. Then he drew forth a huge clasp-knife and cut a thick slice from the raw salt pork, and pulling a red cotton handkerchief from his belt, he wrapped it around the remainder and held it under his arm as he ate.

“She hain’t able to move ‘thout hollerin’, she’s that bad hurted. Paw an’