all.

One of the leaders said--"Let us hear what this born fool has to say. If
he makes very much noise we'll take and put him in one of the rain-water
barrels." A poacher proposed that the dogs should be set on him; but,
although this idea was received as a humorous contribution to the
discussion, it was not put into practice.

The preacher began a kind of rude address. He picked his words with a
certain precision, and managed to express himself in the dialect of the
people to whom he was speaking. His enthusiasm grew, and at the end of a
quarter of an hour he had obtained such complete mastery over the crowd,
that individuals amongst the audience unconsciously imitated the changes
of his face.

The man was really a kind of poet, and the villagers felt his power
without exactly knowing why. When the preaching was over, the orator
strode away home without speaking to anybody.

On the next Sunday he appeared in the same place at the same hour. Only
some half a dozen men and lads were on the green and these were gambling
as usual; but when they saw the preacher, two or three of them ran along
the Row and brought out the people. The men who had intended to go
fishing stayed out of curiosity; and not a single boat was run off the
sands that night. The next week the best part of the village population
was waiting when the preacher came. Some of the very old men were
accommodated with logs of wood which had been brought out for seats,
and the very roughest of the young men remained respectfully silent.

Some heavy clouds came over the hills and discharged a sprinkle of water