Ben's boot did
capital service. With difficulty the executioners found a hole in the
creek about two and a-half feet deep, in which, at full length and with
great gravity, they deposited the exile from the States. Then, they
guessed the Squire, or the Captain, or somebody, would be wanting them,
and skipped lightly back to the house. They knew Mr. Pawkins would
follow, since he was the last man in the settlement to miss his juror's
fee of one dollar. After their return, there was a good deal of
merriment in the kitchen, and the two Richards boys roundly upbraided
the elder Pilgrim for depriving them of a share in the fun. "He baygged
an' prayed for massy," said Mr. Toner, with a grim smile, "but we was
the most onmassifullest craowd you ever see."
Timotheus, still in Sunday garb, took his work-a-day suit, now quite
dry, and went to meet Mr. Pawkins. Introducing him to the stable, he
soon had that gentleman relieved of his wet toggery, when voices were
heard without. It was the colonel, bringing his sister-in-law to see his
horse, as a sort of relief to the strain on his feelings, consequent
upon his interview with Wilkinson.
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