ied:

"Is there--ah--any other--ah--auditor--ah--who is desirous of
withdrawing before the close of service? If so he may do so now,
or--ah--" He paused for a suitable ending, and familiar words rushed to
his lips without consciousness for the moment of their meaning--"or
forever after hold their peace--ah!"

There was a deathly silence in the school-house. No one offered to go
out, and Margaret suddenly turned her head and looked out of the window.
Her emotions were almost beyond her control.

Thus the closing eloquence proceeded to its finish, and at last the
service was over. Margaret looked about for Mom Wallis, but she had
disappeared. She signed to Bud, and together they hastened out; but a
quiet Sabbath peace reigned about the door of the school-house, and not
a man from the camp was in sight; no, nor even the horses upon which
they had come.

And yet, when the minister had finished shaking hands with the
worshipful women and a few men and children, and came with Mr. Tanner to
the door of the school-house, those eight men stood in a solemn row,
four on each side of the walk, each holding his chin in his right hand,
his right elbow in his left hand, and all eyes on Jasper Kemp, who kept
his eyes thoughtfully up in the sky.

"H'w aire yeh, Tanner? Pleasant 'casion. Mind steppin' on a bit? We men
wanta have a word with the parson."

Mr. Tanner stepped on hurriedly, and the minister was left standing
nonplussed and alone in the doorway of the school-house.

CHAPTER XVI

"Um! Ah!" began the minister, trying to summon his best clerical manner
to meet--what? He did not know. It was best to assume they were a
penitent band of inquirers for the truth. But the memory of their recent
exodus from the service was rather too clearly in his mind for his
pleasantest expression to be uppermost toward these rough creatures.
Insolent fellows! He ought to give them a good lesson in behavior!

"Um! Ah!" he began again, but found to his surprise that his remarks
thus far had had no effect whatever on the eight stolid countenances
before him. In fact, they seemed to have grown grim and menacing even in
their quiet attitude, and their eyes were fulfilling the promise of the
look they had given him when they left the service.

"What does all this mean, anyway?" he burst forth, suddenly.

"Calm yourself, elder! Calm yourself," spoke up Long Bill. "There ain't
any occasion to get excited."

"I'm not an elder; I'm a m