the palings, his hand resting on one that was loose. He glanced at the negro carelessly and said:
"Well, Augustus Caesar, I give your majesty thirty seconds to move off the block."
Gus' first impulse was to run, but remembering himself he threw back his shoulders and said:
"I reckon de streets is free"
"Yes, and so is kindling-wood!"
Quick as a flash of lightning the paling suddenly left the fence and broke three times in such bewildering rapidity on the negro's head he forgot everything he ever knew or thought he knew save one thing—the way to run. He didn't fly, but he made remarkable use of the facilities with which he had been endowed.
Ben watched him disappear toward the camp.
He picked up the pieces of paling, pulled a strand of black wool from a splinter, looked at it curiously and said:
"A sprig of his majesty's hair—I'll doubtless remember him without it!"
