The principals shook hands. But the plotters were not content with
this peaceful ending. They had determined that the outside spectators
on the town side of the river should be "in at the (sham) death." They
rigged up a log in a coat and sheet like a man wounded and reclining
in the bottom of a boat, and pretended it was one of the duelists,
badly stricken, whom they were escorting to town for surgical
assistance. The explosion of laughter receiving the two principals
when the hoax was revealed caused the incident to be a sore point to
both Lincoln and Shields.


* * * * *


"WANTING TO DANCE THE WORST WAY."

A Miss Mary Todd had come to visit a sister married in the
neighborhood of Springfield. Lincoln was there as a member of the
legislature sitting. He had eschewed society, though he liked it, in
favor of study, but now rewarded himself for achieving this fruit
of application by joining the movements around him. He made the
acquaintance of Miss Todd, vivacious, sprightly, keenly insighted so
as to divine he would prove superior in fate to Stephen Douglas, also
courting her. Although unsuited by nature and his means to shine in
the ballroom, Lincoln followed his flame thither. Using the
vernacular, he asked for her hand, saying earnestly:

"Miss Todd, I should like to dance with you _the worst way._"

After he had led his partner to her seat, a friend asked how the