Kelsey did not betray which command he had thought best to obey.
'I hed ter put my rifle on the rack in the t'other room, gran'dad,' he observed meekly, addressing one of two very old men who sat on either side of the huge fireplace. There were cushions in their rude arm chairs, and awkward little three-legged footstools were placed in front of them. Their shoes and clothing, although coarse to the last degree, were clean and carefully tended. They had each long ago lived out the allotted threescore years and ten, but they had evidently not worn out their welcome. One had suffered a paralytic attack, and every word and motion was accompanied with a convulsive gasp and jerk. The other old man was saturnine and lymphatic, and seemed a trifle younger than his venerable associate.
'What war ye a-doin' of with yer rifle?' mumbled gran'dad in wild, toothless haste.
'I tuk it along ter see, when I war a-comin' home, ef I mought shoot suthin' tasty for supper.'
'What did ye git?' demanded gran'dad, with retrospective greed; for supper was over, and he had done full justice to his share.
'I never got nuthin',' said Kelsey, a trifle shame-facedly.
'Waal, waal, waal! These hyar latter times gits cur'ouser ez they goes along. The stren'th an' the seasonin' hev all gone out'n the lan'. Whenst I war young, folks ez kerried rifles ter git suthin' fur supper never kem home a-suckin' the bar'l. Folks ez kerried rifles in them days didn't tote 'em fur--fur--a 'ornamint. Folks in them days lef preachin' an' prophecy an' sech ter thar elders, an' hunted the beastis an' the Injun,--though sinners is plentier than the t'other kind o' game on the Big Smoky these times. No man in them days, jes' turned thirty, sot hisself down ter idlin', an' preachin', an' convictin' his elders o' sin.'
Kelsey bore himself with the deferential humility characteristic of the mountaineers towards the aged among them.
'What war the word ez ye war a-layin' off to say ter me, gran'dad?' he asked, striving to effect a diversion.
'Waal, waal, look a-hyar, Hiram,' exclaimed the old man, remembering his question in eager precipitancy. 'This hyar 'Cajah Green, ye know, ez air a-runnin' fur sher'ff--air--air he Republikin or Dimmycrat?'