cryin an a assin him ef he wouldn' please hev the racket stopped. Yew
sed she wuz ontew her knees, didn't yew, Obadiah?"

"Tell us all about it Obadiah, we wanter hear it agin," was the
general demand.

"Ye see the way on't wuz this," said Obadiah, nothing loath. "She come
in all a cryin an scairt like, and Perez he wuz thar an so wuz the
res' o' the family, an the fuss thing she does, she gits down on the
floor intew the sand with a new silk gown she hed on, and asses Perez
to hev the hoss-fiddles stopped. An he said t'er fuss, as haow he
wouldn't, said 'twas good nuff fur the silk stockings, and he pinted
ter Reub an says for her tew see what they'd done ter his family. But
she cried an tuck on, an says ez haow she wouldn't git up 'nless he'd
stop the hoss-fiddles, an so he hed tew give in, an that's all I knows
about it."

"Ye see Obadiah knows all baout it," said Abner. "He keeps kumpny with
the Fennell gal, as is tew the Hamlins. He got it straight's a string,
didn't ye, Obadiah?"

"Yes," said Obadiah, "it's all jess so. Thar ain't no mistake."

No incident of the insurrection had taken such hold on the popular
imagination as the appeal of Desire Edwards to Perez for protection.
It was immensely flattering to the vanity of the mob, as typifying the
state of terror to which the aristocrats had been reduced, and all the
louts in town felt an inch the taller, by reason of it, and walked
with an additional swagger. The demand for the details of the scene
between Perez and Desire was insatiable and Obadiah was called on