"He won't be consulted none. And his hide will come off easy
once I get hold of him by the scruff of the neck." Yancy's
speech was gentle and his lips smiling, but he meant a fair share
of what he said.

"Sho', is that the way you do it?" And round-eyed they gazed
down on this fascinating stranger.

"I may have to touch him up with a tickler," continued Yancy, who
did not wish to prove disappointing. "I reckon you-all know what
a tickler is?"

They nodded.

"What if Mr. Slosson totes a tickler, too?" asked Keppel
insinuatingly. This opened an inviting field for conjecture.

"That won't make no manner of difference. Why? Because it's a
powerful drawback fo' a man to know he's in the wrong, just as
it's a heap in yo' favor to know you're in the right."

"My father's got a tickler; I seen it often," vouchsafed Henry.

"It's a foot long, with a buck horn handle. Gee whiz!--he keeps
it keen; but he never uses it on no humans," said Keppel.

"Of course he don't; he's a high-spirited, right-actin'
gentleman. But what do you reckon he'd feel obliged to do if a
body stole one of you-all?" inquired Yancy.