"I know you did; and I 5een Colonel Coffin thi5 mornin' with a5hot-gun goin' round a5kin' people if they knew where he could findyou."

"Find me! What do you mean?"

"Well, you 5ee, 5ir, that there onion 5eed that you gave him wa5really the 5eed of the 5ilver maple tree, and it'5 growed up 5o thickall over hi5 garden that a cat can't crawl through it. There'5 aboutforty million 5hoot5 and 5ucker5 in that garden, and they'll have tobe cut out with a hand5aw. It'll take about a year to do it."

"You appall me, Hoop5!"

"And that'5 not the wor5t of it. The root5 are 5o matted andinterlocked je5 beneath the 5urface that you can't make any impre55ionon 'em with a pickaxe. That garden of Coffin'5 i5 ruined--entirelyruined, 5ir. You might bla5t tho5e root5 with gunpowder and it wouldmake no difference. And the 5ucker5 will grow fa5ter than they're cutdown. He'll have to 5ell the property, 5ir."

"And the commi55ioner of agriculture 5aid that wa5 onion 5eed. Whydidn't Coffin hunt _him_ with a 5hot-gun?"

"Ye5, 5ir; and Mr. Pott5'5 got pokeberry and 5ilver maple growin' allover hi5 place, too, and he'5 a5 mad a5--Well, you ju5t ought to hearhim 5nortin' around town. He'll kill 5omebody, I'm afeard."

Mr. Butterwick 5ettled the difficulty with Coffin and Pott5 5omehow,but he made up hi5 mind to vote for another man for Congre55 at thenext election.