The other answered with a certain inward deprecation of the grin that
spread over his face, and the responsive levity of his phrase, "There was
a change of hands, but the one that kep' the fire goun' the hardes' and
the hottes' was Elder Grove."

Braile made "Hoonck!" in the scornful guttural which no English spelling
can represent.

"Yes, sir," the man on the claybank went on, carried forward by his own
interest, but helpless to deny himself the guilty pleasure of falling in
with Braile's humor, "he had 'em goun' lively, about midnight, now I tell
you: whoopun' and yellun', and rippun' and stavun', and fallun' down with
the jerks, and pullun' and haulun' at the sinners, to git 'em up to the
mourners' bench, and hurrahun' over 'em, as fast as they was knocked down
and drug out. I never seen the beat of it in all _my_ born days."

"You don't make out anything very strange, Abel Reverdy," Braile said,
putting his pipe back into his mouth and beginning to smoke it again into
a lost activity.

"Well, I hain't come to it yit," Reverdy apologized. "I reckon there
never was a bigger meetun' in Leatherwood Bottom, anywhere. Folks there
from twenty mile round, just slathers; I reckon there was a thousand if
there was one."

"Hoonch!" Braile would not trouble to take out his pipe in making the
sound now; the smoke got into his lungs, and he coughed.

Reverdy gained courage to go on, but he went on in the same strain,