book, fumbled about in it a moment, and then threw five twenty-dollar gold pieces at the feet of the officer.
"I 'll send that to your family," he said, "if you 'll pull your pistol out where I can see it."
But the officer by this time had taken a sober second thought, and he turned away from the major and went to his office across the public square. The older citizens of Hillsborough applauded his coolness and discretion, and one of them told him confidentially that if he had drawn his pistol when Major Goolsby begged him to he would have been a dead man before he could have pulled the hammer back.
II
Of course, everybody sympathized with Aunt Sally, and their sympathy added to her grief, for she was a tender-hearted woman. Moreover, when she found herself the object of so much condolence, she naturally concluded that her trouble was a great deal worse than she had any idea of, and she sat in her humble home and wept, and, like Rachel, refused to be comforted.
