these yer blessin's I'm _personal_
guaranteein' to the flower o' Barnriff's manhood I almost feel as
though I wus goin' to turn on the hose pipe like a spanked kid."

He talked till he had half of Barnriff's "flower" blubbering, and he
had emptied the last cent out of their pockets, and the mission was
set on a sound financial basis. But as to his guarantee--well, the
doctor was well understood by his fellow citizens, and no one was ever
heard to question its fulfilment.

It was wonderful what a power of persuasion he had in Barnriff. But
then he was an awe-inspiring figure, with his large luminous eyes and
eagle cast of feature. And, too, words flowed from his lips like words
from the pen of a yellow journal reporter, and his phraseology was
almost as picturesque.

The boys were gathered waiting for him. There was anticipatory
pleasure in their hang-dog faces. One of them almost laughed at a
light sally from the cheery Gay, but luckily it was nipped in time by
the interposition of the mean-minded Smallbones.

"I sez it right here, boys," the latter observed, leaning with his
back against the bar, and speaking with the air of having just arrived
at a grave decision. "Old Sally Morby hadn't no right to burry her man
in oak. Now I ast you, Gay, as man to man, if you'd know'd we was
goin' to be ast to ante up fer her grub stake, wot could you ha' done
him handsome an' moderate fer?"

Gay squared his fat shoulders. For the moment he was important.
Moments of importance are always precious, even in places like
Barnriff.

"Wal, I can't rightly give it you down to cents without considerin'
Restless some," he replied unctuously. "But we did Toby Randall
slap-up in ash fer fifty odd dollars. Then ther' was Sadie O'Brien. We
did her elegant in soft pine for twenty-eight odd. It 'ud sure have
been twenty-five on'y fer her weight. Y'see the planks under her had
to be two inch or she'd ha' fell through."

He produced his note-book and rapidly glanced over the greasy pages.

"Y'see," he observed, pausing at the entry he had been looking for,
"Sally paid us a hundred an' forty-seven dollars an' seventy-five
cents. I 'lows that's handsome fer buryin' a hop-headed skite like
Charlie Morby was. But that wus her order, an' bein' a business man,
an' takin' pride in my work, I sez to Restless, I sez, 'It's oak, boy,
oak with silver plate trimmin's, an' a real elegant inscription to
Charlie on it, tellin' folks o' virtues he didn't