“It's from Herman's house,” he said. “He won't be with us tonight. He--he's had a kind of a stroke--fell right smack on the floor as he was puttin' on his hat to come down here. 'Twas his daughter had me on the telephone--the married one. They're afraid it's paralysis--seems like he can't move one side and only mumbles, sort of tongue tied, she says, when he tried to talk. But I reckin it ain't nowhere near as serious as they think for.” “No suh,” agreed the Sergeant, “Herman's good for twenty year yit. I bet you he jest et something that didn't agree with him. He'll be up and goin' in a week--see if he ain't. But say, that means Doctor Lake won't be here neither, don't it?” “Well, that's a funny thing,” said the old Judge, “I pointedly asked her what he said about Herman, and she mumbled something about Doctor Lake's gittin' on so in life that she hated to call him out on a hot night like this. So they called in somebody else. She said, though, they aimed to have Lake up the first thing in the momin' unless Herman is better by then.” “Well, I'll say this,” put in Sergeant Bagby, “she better not let him ketch her sayin' he's too old to be answerin' a call after dark. Lew Lake's got a temper, and he certainly would give that young woman a dressin' down.” The old Judge moved to his place on the platform and mounted it heavily. As he sat down, he gave a little grunting sigh. An old man's tired sigh carries a lot of meaning sometimes; this one did. “Jimmy,” he said, “if you will act as adjutant and take the desk, we'll open without music, for this onc't. This is about the smallest turn-out we ever had for a regular meetin', but we can go ahead, I reckin.” Sergeant Bagby came forward and took a smaller desk off at the side of the platform. Adjusting his spectacles, just so, he tugged a warped drawer open and produced a flat book showing signs of long wear and much antiquity. A sheet of heavy paper had been pasted across the cover of this book, but with much use it had frayed away so that the word “Ledger” showed through in faded gilt letters. The Sergeant opened at a place where a row of names ran down the blue lined sheet and continued over upon the next page. Most of the names had dates set opposite them in fresher writing than the original entries. Only now and then was there a name with no date written after it. He cleared his throat to begin. “I presume,” the Commander was saying, “that we might dispense with the roll call for tonight.” “That's agreeable to me,” said the acting adjutant, and he shut up the book. “There is an election pendin' to fill a vacancy, but in view of the small attendance present this evenin'--”