his part, would not tell. They thumped him and pushed
him, but at each attack he only leaped from the ground like a circus
clown, and made his tin horn utter so doleful a complaint as set the
party in an uproar of laughter. They could not be sure who he was, but
he was a funny fellow to have along with them at any rate.
He was not only funny, but he was evidently fearless. For when they came
to the castle it was all dark and still. Bill Day said that it looked
"powerful juberous to him. Ole Andy meant to use shootin'-ir'ns, and
didn't want to be pestered with no lights blazin' in his eyes." But the
tall hunchback cleared the fence at a bound, and told them to come on
"ef they had the sperrit of a two-weeks-old goslin into 'em." So the
bottle was passed round, and for very shame they followed their
ungainly leader.
"Looky here, boys," said the hunchback, "they's one way that we can fix
it so's ole Grizzly can't shoot. They's a little shop-place, a sort of a
shed, agin the house, on the side next to the branch. Let's git in thar
afore we begin, and he can't shoot."
The orchestra were a little stupefied with drink, and they took the idea
quickly, never stopping to ask how they could retreat if Andrew chose to
shoot. Jim West thought things looked scaly, but he warn't agoin' to
backslide arter he'd got so fur.
When they got into Andrew's shop, where he had a new and beautiful
skiff in building, the tall hunchback shut the door, and the rest did
not notice that he put the key in his pocket.
That serenade! Such a medley of discordant sounds, such a clatter and
clangor, such a rattle of horse-fiddle, such a bellowing of dumb-bull,
such a snorting of tin horns, such a ringing of tin pans, such a
grinding of skillet-lids! But the house remained quiet. Once Bill Day
thought that he heard a laugh within. Julia may have lost her
self-control. She was so happy, and a little unrestrained fun was so
strange a luxury!
At last the door between the house and shop was suddenly opened, and
Julia, radiant as she could be, stood on the threshold with a candle
in her hand.
"Come in, gentlemen."
But the gentlemen essayed to go out.
"Locked in, by thunder!" said Jim West, trying the outside door of the
shop.
"We heard you were coming, gentlemen, and provided a little
entertainment. Come in!"
"Come in, boys," said the hunchback, "don't be afeard of nobody."
Mechanically they followed the hunchback into the room, for
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