Volcano under my arm, and stood there, ready to go.

"Accept my apologies," I said. "Whatever my fault, at least no
discourtesy was intended."

We looked at each other, and Beauty's face relaxed into something
like a smile.

"Just give me one more minute for my volcano," I pleaded.

"You seem very polite," she returned. "Yes, you can set it off, if
that will be any satisfaction to you."

"It'll be a whole lot," I said, "and since you're so kind perhaps
you'll let me include the crackers as well?"

Then she began to laugh, and the sweetest thing about it was that
she didn't want to laugh a bit and blushed the most lovely pink,
as she broke out again and again until the woods fairly rang. And
as I laughed too--for really it was most absurd--it was as good as
a scene in a play. And so, while she held Legree's dog, whom the
sound inflamed to frenzy, I popped off the crackers and dropped my
cigar into Vesuvius. I tell you he was worth four and eightpence,
and the man was right when he said there wasn't his match in
London. I doubt if there was his match anywhere for being plumb-
full of red balls and green balls and blue balls and crimson stars
and fizzlegigs and whole torrents of tiny crackers and chase-me-
quicks, and when you about thought he was never going to stop he
shot up a silver spray and a gold spray and wound up with a very
considerable decent-sized bust.