lo!" said Bob. "You here, Ole Ke-whack? How did you get in? By the
back door, I 'low."

"Put my yellow waistcoat back where you got it, ke-whack!" said the
stake-driver, shivering. "It's cold in here, and how shall I go to the
party without it, ke-whack!"

"Your yaller wescut?" said Bob. "I haint got no wescut, ke-whack or no
ke-whack."

"You must put that away!" said the fly-up-the-creek, pecking his long
nose at the gold key. "Ke-whack! ke-whack!"

"Oh!" said Towpate, "why didn't you say so?" Then he tossed the gold key
down on the ground, where he had found the iron one, but the key stood
straight up, waving itself to and fro, while Bobby came out with his
drawling: "Well, I never!"

"Pick it up! Pick it up! Ke-whack! You've pitched my yellow waistcoat
into the dirt, ke-whack, ke-whack!"

"Oh! You call that a wescut, do you. Well, I never!" And Bobby picked up
the key, and since he could think of no place else to put it, he put it
into the key-hole, upon which it unwound itself to the left till it was
silver. Bobby, seeing that the key had ceased to move, pulled it out and
turned toward the open door to see the stake-driver wearing a yellow
vest, which he was examining with care, saying, "Ke-whack, ke-whack," as
he did so. "I knew you'd get spots on it, ke-whack, throwing it on the
ground that way."

Poor Bobby was too much mystified by this confusion between the gold key
and the yellow vest, or "wescut," as they call it on the Indian Kaintuck,
to say anything.

"Now, my white coat, put that back, ke-whack," said the fly-up-the-creek
fairy. "I can't go to the party in my shirt sleeves, ke-whack."

"I haint got your coat, Ole Daddy Longlegs," said Bobby, "'less you mean
this key."

On this suspicion he put the key back, upon which it again unwound itself
to the left and became brass. As soon as Bobby had pulled out the brass
key and turned round, he saw that the fairy was clad in a white coat,
which, with his stunning yellow vest, made him cut quite a figure.

"Now, my yellow cap," said the stake-driver, adding a cheerful ke-whack
or two, and Bobby guessed that he was to put the brass key in the
key-hole, whereupon it was immediately turned round by some unseen power
until it became iron, and then thrown out on the ground where Bobby
Towpate had found it at first. Sure enough, the fairy now wore a yellow
cap, and, quick as thought, he stepped out to where the key was lying,
and struck it twice with his n