“And you shut him up sharp.”

“I lay I did! There must ’a’ been an angel there. There was an angel there, somewheres!”

“And Mrs. Harper told about Joe scaring her with a firecracker, and you told about Peter and the Pain-killer — ”

“Just as true as I live!”

“And then there was a whole lot of talk ’bout dragging the river for us, and ’bout having the funeral Sunday, and then you and old Miss Harper hugged and cried, and she went.”

“It happened just so!

It happened just so, as sure as I’m a-sitting in these very tracks. Tom, you couldn’t told it more like if you’d