The gin stopped its whir, and the clerk weighed the cotton. Religion watched him sharply, and counted the checks he handed her twice.
"If you pass 'em at the Hermitage," he said, "tell 'em to give you another five-cent check; I'm short to-night."
"I ain't goin' to the Hermitage store; I'm goin' to the ferry. They give me cash there for the checks."
"What do they take off?"
"They takes one cent out'n every five. But I'm 'bliged to have the hard money. We has to pay for a good many things we git for Min in hard money." She had taken up the empty bags, but still waited. "I wish you'd please, sir, see if you 'ain't got another check nowhere."
"You're a sight, Religion," he said, good-naturedly. "Here's a nickel."
With her bags on her arm she went out across the dry grass to where a littl
