"What else could he be," interposed a new arrival, "but a preacher? He ain't no convict--the Captain jest sent fer him. He's goin' to live here amongst us and reform a lot of you bad guys." At this juncture, still another convict came up, bearing a blue cotton shirt and a pair of prison trousers over his arm. "Is this the new duck?" he queried. "Duck--duck," echoed Blinky. "Ain't ye got no manners? I'm ashamed of ye--ain't ye got no respect for a preacher? This is Brother Silsand--he got a call--here." "Oh, excuse me. Well, Brother Silsand, you'll carry these elegant pants and this fancy shirt on your arm when Last Time comes to escort you to the beach. When you come back, you'll feel like a gentleman sure enough." Other men were attracted, and now a little group clustered around the bench, all eyes turned upon Lem, as though he were some strange animal. And all in turn contributed their jest calculated to furnish fun for the others. "Here comes Brizz now," announced Blinky. "Ha, there, Brizz--I brought your clippers down. Pipe this guy's hair--you'll never git that reaped twixt this and sun-down. Say, Shorty, you been bellerin' for a mattress ever since I knowed ye--now's yer chance--rake this pretty hair up as fast as Brizz mows it, and feed it to that hungry tick of yourn. I'll bet my plug Saturday to three matches that the bell won't wake ye up." At this moment, Brizz, a heavy man with a ponderous paunch, crowded in and took the clippers out of Blinky's hand. Brizz was the official reception room barber. "It do look uncommon extensive, don't it?" said Brizz. All this while, Lem had grown more and more uneasy, and his first resentment was rapidly amounting to real anger under these unkind criticisms, and the jeering faces that now encircled the bench. "I'll swear it do," reiterated Brizz. "Still, I'm a regular old rip when it comes to mowin'--come here young feller," he urged with a business-like flourish of the clippers. "Let's start early so's we'll get done for supper." He laid a hand on Lem's shoulder. Whereupon, Lem rose up, his jaws set, his muscles tense, while a steady light shot his gray eyes. "Ef yo'-all tech me with them things," he said, low and steady, "I'll take em away from yo' an,'--an' hit yo' with 'em." The men were so enthralled with these festive proceedings that they failed to notice Last Time sneak up from behind, where he was taking it all in. When Lem stood up and showed fight, a chorus of low derisive laughter rippled around the circle which was instantly disrupted as Last Time burst ruthlessly into their midst, throwing one of the convicts completely off his feet. "What you fixin' to do, Brizz?" he growled.