The trees were flaming scarlet and saffron as I rode west through the forests to his house on the South Fork River.

There, by a wood fire in the October dusk, he fed me on wild turkey and barley bread, and listened silently to my tale.
He said nothing when I spoke of my schemes for getting the better of the Englishman and winning Virginia to my side.

Profits interested him little, for he grew his patch of corn and pumpkins, and hunted the deer for his own slender needs.

Once he broke in on my rigmarole with a piece of news that fluttered me.
"You mind the big man you were chasing that night you and me first forgathered?
Well, I've seen him." "Where ?" I cried, all else forgotten.
"Here, in this very place, six weeks syne.

He stalked in about ten o' the night, and lifted half my plenishing.