But he was still kept uneasy by his inability to make his
gold marketable. His uneasiness increased as September approached. He had
applied to the purchase of the field the sum saved to cancel the mortgage
upon his house at the rear end of the town.
The three days before the foreclosure of the mortgage were days of
exquisite anguish to Pop. When the foreclosure came and he and his goods
were turned out on the banks of the creek to make room for the mill-owner's
improvements, his mental turmoil ended. He took the crisis calmly.
"Jes' wait," he said to a neighbour who had stopped at sight of the
moving-out. "Wait till I get dat ere goal on de mahket. I'll bull' a mill
dat'll drive dis yer mill out o' d' business. Den I'll done buy back dis
yer ol' home."
But the next day, when the unexpected happened,--when builders began to
tear down his house,--the enormity of his deed dawned upon him. After a day
of moaning and staring, as he sat amidst his household goods on the bank of
the creek, he became animated by a deep rage against the mill-owner. Now
more than ever had he a special purpose for enriching himself by means of
his treasure across the hill.
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