"Parson Small," said Jeb unctuously, "las' Sunday was _yo'_ day." The men in the bushes thrust themselves farther out--they could hear every word--"an' this Sunday is _mine_." "Every Sunday is the Lawd's, Jeb Mullins--profane it not." "Well, mebbe He'll loan me this un, parson. You lambasted me afore all Happy Valley last Sunday an' now I'm a-goin' to lick you fer it." The parson's eye gleamed faintly and subsided. "I'm on my way to preach the word of God, Jeb Mullins." "You'll git thar in time, parson. Git off yo' hoss!" "I've got my broadcloth on, Jeb Mullins, an' I don't want to muss it up--wait till I come back." "You can take it off, parson, or brush off the dust atterwards--climb off yo' hoss." Again the parson's eye gleamed and this time did not subside. "I reckon you'll give me time to say a prayer, Jeb Mullins!" "Shore--you'll need it afore I git through with ye." With a sigh the parson swung offside from Jeb, dexterously pulling a jackknife from his trousers-pocket, opening it, and thrusting it in the high top of his right boot. Then he kneeled in the road with uplifted face and eyes closed: [Illustration] "O Lawd," he called sonorously, "thou knowest that I visit my fellow man with violence only with thy favor and in thy name. Thou knowest that when I laid Jim Thompson an' Si Marcum in thar graves it was by thy aid. Thou knowest how I disembowelled with my trusty knife the miserable sinner Hank Smith." Here the parson drew out his knife and began honing it on the leg of his boot. "An' hyeh's another who meddles with thy servant and profanes thy day. I know this hyeh Jeb Mullins is offensive in thy sight an' fergive me, O Lawd, but I'm a-goin' to cut his gizzard plum' out, an' O Lawd--" Here Parson Small opened one eye and Jeb Mullins did not stand on the order of his going. As he went swiftly up the hill the committee sprang from the bushes with haw-haws and taunting yells. At the top of the hill Jeb turned: "I was a-goin' anyhow," he shouted, and with his thumb at his nose he wriggled his fingers at them. "He'll never come back now--he'll be ashamed." "Friends," called the parson, "the Lawd is with me--peace be unto you." And the committee said: "Amen!"