in favour’ll say so, and gents wot ain’t kin keep mum. Carried, ’n’ that settles it. Five-Ace ’n’ me’ll take in contributions, ’n’ we won’t take any less than fifty cases.’

“That wuz two days afore Chris’mus Day, ’n’ when it cum Pete ’n’ Five-Ace hed about five thousand in dust ’n’ nuggets fer the parson’s present. Pete assessed Ah Foo a month’s pay, ’n’ he kicked hard, but twer’n’t no use.

“The day wuz bright ’n’ clear, ’n’ at ’leven o’clock every man in camp wuz at church. The little buildin’ looked mighty tasty—all fixed off with pine-tassels ’n’ red berries we’d got in the woods, ’n’ every man wuz dressed out in his best duds. At ’leven exact the parson ’n’ the kid, who hed bin standin’ at the door shakin’ hands ’n’ wishin’ everybody what cum in Merry Chris’mus, cum in ’n’ took their seats on the platform. Pete ’n’ Five-Ace ’n’ Bill Jones ’n’ Alabam ’n’ me sot on a bench jest in front o’ the platform. We wuz all togged out in our best fixin’s, ’n’ Pete ’n’ Five-Ace they sported dimon’s till yer couldn’t rest. Waal, ez usual, the perceedin’s opened up with er prayer from the parson; ’n’ then we hed singin’ ’n’ it seemed ter me ez if I never hed heerd sich singin’ in my life afore ez thet kid let out o’ him thet day.

“Then the parson he started in ter jaw, ’n’ I must ellow he giv’ us a great discourse. I never see him so long-winded afore tho’, ’n’ Pete was beginnin’ to get mighty restless ’n’ oneasy, when all uv a suddint we heerd the door open ’n’ shet quick ’n’ sharp, ’n’ every one turned round to find a great, big, black- bearded cuss at the door a coverin’ the hull gang uv us with a double-bar’led shotgun, ’n’ jest a standin’ thar cool ’n’ silent.

“ ‘Face round here, ye derned fools!” yelled somebody in a sharp, quick, biznus-meanin’ v’ice, ’n’ all hands faced round to find the parson holding ’em up with another shotgun—own brother to the one the other cuss hed. ‘I don’t want a word out er yer,’ he sed. ‘Yer see my game now, don’t yer? Thar ain’t a gun in the house ’cept the ones you see, ’n’ if any gent makes any row in this yer meetin’ I’ll fill his hide so plum full o’ holes ’twon’t hold his bones. The kid will now take up the collection, ’n’ ez it’s the first one we ever hev taken up, yer must make it a liber’l one, see?’

“The kid started out with a gunny-sack, ’n’ went through the very last man in the crowd. He took everything, even to the rings on our fingers. The parson hed the drop, ’n’ we knew it ’n’ never kicked, but jest giv’ up our stuff like lambs.

“After the kid hed finished he took the sack outside, ’n’ thet’s the last we ever seed o’ him. Then the parson he sez:

“ ‘Now, gents, I must say adoo, ez I must be a travellin’, for I hev another meetin’ to attend this eve. I want to say, tho’, afore I go, thet you’re the orneriest gang uv derned fools I ever played fer suckers. A few friends uv mine hev taken the liberty, while yer’ve been to meetin’ this blessed Chris’mus Day, uv goin’ through yer cabins ’n’ diggin’ up yer little caches uv dust ’n’ uther val’ables. Yer stock hez all been stampeded, ’n’ yer guns yer’ll find somewhar at the bottom of the crick. My friend at the door will hold yer level while I walk out, ’n’ we will then keep yer quiet fer a few minutes longer through ther winder jest so’s we can git a nice, cumf’table start’; ’n’ so they did. What c’u’d we do? The parson walked out, grinning all over himself, ’n’ he ’n’ his pals they nailed up the door ’n’ winders (thar wuz only two), ’n’ very soon after they had finished we heerd the clatter o’ huffs ’n’ knowed they wuz gone.

“I must draw a veil over the rest uv thet day’s purceedin’s, stranger. The langwidge used by ther boys wuz too awful to repeat; but t’was jest ez this parson sed, when we got out o’ thet meetin’-house we found every animal on the location gone, ’n’ the only arms left wuz knives ’n’ clubs; yet we’d hev gone after ’em with nothin’ but our hands, but we couldn’t follow afoot.

“How much did they get? I don’t rightly know, but not fur frum fifty thousand. The hull camp wuz stone- brook, all excep’ Ah Foo, ’n’ he wuz the only one uv us as hed sense enuff not to tell thet durned parson whar he cached his stuff. Pete ’n’ Five-Ace wuz so everlastin’ hurt at the hull biznus that they shut up