But my turn had not yet come. Mr. Wilson was dragged out next, and I thought I perceived a demoniac smile steal over the countenance of the cymbal player as Wilson said he was too hoarse to say much; he would leave the heavy work for the brilliant young orator who was here from New Castle. He would skim rapidly over the ground and then retire. He did. Wilson rapidly skimmed all the cream off of my arguments numbers two, five and six, and wound up by offering the whole of my number four argument. My hair fairly stood on end when Wilson bowed and left the stand. What on earth was I to do now? Not an argument left to stand upon; all my anecdotes gone but two, and my mind in such a condition of frenzied bewilderment that it seemed as if there was not another available argument or suggestion or hint or anecdote remaining in the entire universe. In an agony of despair, I turned to the man next to me and asked him if I would have to follow Wilson. He said it was his turn now. "And what are you going to say?" I demanded, suspiciously. "Oh, nothing," he replied--"nothing at all. I want to leave room for you. I'll just tell a little story or so, to amuse them, and then sit down." "What story, for instance?" I asked. "Oh, nothing, nothing; only a little yarn I happen to remember about a farmer who married a woman who said she could cut four cords of wood, when she couldn't." My worst fears were realized. I turned to the man next to me, and said, with suppressed emotion, "May I ask your name, my friend?" He said his name was Gumbs. "May I inquire what your Christian name is?" He said it was William Henry. "Well, William Henry Gumbs," I exclaimed, "gaze at me! Do I look like a man who would slay a human being in cold blood?" "Hm-m-m, n-no; you don't," he replied, with an air of critical consideration. "But I AM!" said I, fiercely--"I AM; and I tell you now that if you undertake to relate that anecdote about the farmer's wife I will blow you into eternity without a moment's warning; I will, by George!" Mr. Gumbs instantly jumped up, placed his hand on the railing of the porch, and got over suddenly into the crowd. He stood there pointing me out to the bystanders, and doubtless advancing the theory that I was an original kind of a lunatic, who might be expected to have at any moment a fit which would be interesting when studied from a distance. The chairman looked around, intending to call upon my friend Mr. Gumbs; but not perceiving him, he came to me and said: "Now is your chance, sir; splendid opportunity; crowd worked up to just the proper pitch. We have paved the way for you; go in and do your best." "Oh yes; but hold on for a few moments, will you? I can't speak now; the fact is I am not quite ready. Run out some other man." "Haven't got another man. Kept you for the last purposely, and the crowd is waiting. Come ahead and pitch in, and give it to 'em hot and heavy."