her long brown lashes, and she spoke first. "The
folks in the mountings air mighty nigh skeered out'n thar boots by yer
foolishness, Brent"--she sought to conserve a mien of reproof. "They
'low ez it war a manifestation of the Evil One."

Brent laughed delightedly. "Warn't it prime?" he said. "But I never
expected ter work sech a scatteration of the crowd Thar skeer plumb
terrified _me_. I jes' set out with the nimblest, an' run from the devil
myself."

"Won't them candidates fur office be mighty mad if they find out what it
war sure enough?" she queried anxiously. "They gin the crowd a barbecue
an' bran dance, an' arter all, the folks got quit of hevin' ter hear
them speak an' jaw about thar old politics an' sech."

"Them candidates air hoppin' mad fur true," he admitted. "I been down
yander at Gilfillan's store in the Cove an' I hearn the loafers thar
talkin' powerful 'bout the strange happening. An' them candidates war
thar gittin' ready ter start out fur town in thar buggy. An' that thar
gay one--though now he seems ez sober ez that sour one--he said 't
warn't no devil. 'Twar jes' a ventriloquisk from somewhar--that's
jes' what that town man called it. But _I_ never said nuthin'. I kep'
powerful quiet."

Brent Kayle was as vain a man as ever stood in shoe leather--even in the
midst of his absorption in his disclosure he could not refrain from a
pause to reflect on the signal success of his prank and laugh and plume
himself.

"But old Gilfillan he loves ter believe ez the devil air hotfoot arter
other folks with a pitchfork, an' he axed how then did sech a man happen
ter be in the mountings 'thout none knowin' of it. An' that candidate,
the gay one, he say he reckon the feller kem from that circus what is
goin' fer show in Shaftesville termorrer--mebbe he hearn 'bout the
bran dance an' wanted ter hev some fun out'n the country folks. That
candidate say he hed hearn dozens o' ventriloquisks in shows in the big
towns--though this war about the bes' one he could remember. He said he
hed no doubt this feller is paid good money in the show, fur jes' sech
fool tricks with his voice--_good money!_"

Valeria had listened in motionless amazement But he had now paused,
almost choking with his rush of emotion, his excitement, his sense of
triumph, and straight ensued a certain reluctance, a dull negation, a
prophetic recoil from responsibility that clogged his resolve. His eyes
roved uncertainly about the familiar domes