He hit right and left. The excitable crowd swayed with consternation, as in a rapid and vehement utterance, he denounced their sins, with the particularity of one who had been familiar with them all his life.... Slowly the people pressed forward off the fences. All at once there was a loud bellowing cry from some one who had fallen prostrate outside the fence, and who began to cry aloud as if the portals of an endless perdition were yawning in his face.... This outburst of agony was fuel to the flames, and the excitement now spread to all parts of the audience.... Captain Lumsden ... started for his horse and was seized with that curious nervous affection which originated in these religious excitements and disappeared with them. He jerked violently--his jerking only adding to his excitement. Eggleston has caught with vividness the spirit of this heroic age and brought it to us so that it actually lives again. The members of the conference at Hickory Ridge have gathered to hear the bishop read the appointments for the year: The brethren, still in sublime ignorance of their destiny, sang fervently that fiery hymn of Charles Wesley's: Jesus, the name high over all, In hell or earth or sky, Angels and men before him fall, And devils fear and fly. And when they reached the last stanzas there was the ring of soldiers ready for battle in their martial voices. That some of them would die from exposure, malaria, or accident during the next year was probable. Tears came to their eyes, and they involuntarily began to grasp the hands of those who stood next to them as they approached the climax of the hymn.... Happy if with my latest breath I may but gasp His name, Preach Him to all, and cry in death, "Behold, behold the Lamb!" Then, with suffused eyes, they resumed their seats, and the venerable Asbury, with calmness and a voice faltering with age, made them a brief address: "General Wolfe," said the British Admiralty, "will you go and take Quebec?" "I'll do it or die," he replied. Here the bishop paused, looked round about upon them, and added, with a voice full of emotion, "He went and did both. We send you first to take the country allotted to you. We want only men who are determined to do it or die! Some of you, dear brethren, will do both. If you fall, let us hear that you fell like Methodist preachers at your post, face to the foe, and the shout of victory on your lips!" The effect of this speech was beyond description. There were sobs, and cries of "Amen," "God grant it," "Hallelujah!" from every part of the old log church. Every man was ready for the hardest place, if he must. With the circuit rider Eggleston undoubtedly added another type to the gallery of American fiction. VII