Instantly, hats, caps, and fists were flourished aloft, and the air resounded with the most direful sounds imaginable, as groan after groan came heaving up from the leathern lungs of the crowd. With a fierce gesture of impatience Jimmie turned upon them, his black eyes flashing fire at what he deemed an insult offered to himself. Whatever his faults had been, desertion was not among the number, and he was about to say so, when Bill, with imperturbable gravity, whispered to him, “They don’t mean you now, Corporal. It’s me they’re hittin’ a dig. You see, I did leave Washington in a hurry. Don’t mind ’em an atom; they’re the off-scourin’s of the town,” and having piloted Jimmie safely to the carriage door, Bill took off his own cap, and swinging it around his head, shouted aloud, “Three cheers for Corporal Carleton!” For an instant there was a silence, the crowd a little uncertain as to how far their loyalty might be impeached by cheering for a Rebel; but when the dark, handsome face, with its winning smile, was again turned toward them, and they saw in it a strong resemblance to the patriotic little lady whom even the lowest of them had learned to regard with respect, their doubts were given to the winds, and the ringleader, who carried in his pocket a quantity of questionable eggs, designed for use as the occasion might require, led off the cheers, making the depot ring with the loud huzzas, interlarded here and there by a groan or hiss from those not yet won over to the popular party. Lifting his hat gracefully, Jimmie bowed an acknowledgment, and his lips moved as if about to speak, while cries of “Hear, hear!” “Give us a speech!” “Let’s have your politics!” ran through the excited throng. Standing close to Jimmie, who would fain have dispensed with his suggestive presence, Bill whispered in his ear, “Let ’er slide, Cop’ral. Go in strong for Uncle Sam if you don’t want this new coat of yourn sp’ilt. There ain’t a rotten hen’s nest in town but what was robbed this mornin’ on your account, and if they once git fairly to work, it’ll take mor’n me and Mr. Sullivan to stop em! Pitch in, then, to your sarmon.” Jimmie’s natural disposition prompted him to brave the purloined contents of Rockland’s hen’s nests, but he would not endanger his sister’s carriage, and besides that, he felt that submission to people so infinitely beneath him was a part of his merited punishment; so, forcing down his pride, he in a few well-chosen words, told his breathless audience that though he had once proved faithless to his country, none regretted it more than himself, or was now a firmer friend to the Stars and Stripes, the brief speech ending with the proposal of three cheers for the Star Spangled Banner. In a trice the whole crowd responded with might and main, prolonging their yells with the cries of “Carleton! Carleton forever!” and promises to make him police justice in the spring, should he want to run for that very agreeable office!