"This ain't no place fer you. You go join them Hard Shells that's fixin' fer a ten days' fightin' match with the devil. They have the same runnin' off at the mouth as you have, but they hain't never drawed no devil's blood yet, and that's your crowd." Windy's lips moved as if to speak. "Roll in your molasses sucker and trampoose," was the order. "Yeh--trampoose," was the repeated order. "Go fight the devil." "The devil--that's the Clary Grove gang," he muttered as he turned away. "Devil-fighter," some one said as his limping figure disappeared in the darkness. "If the devil pays any more heed to him than he would to a skit-fly he's a blame bigger ass than I've ever took him to be," Ole Bar observed. "Let's licker up." CHAPTER III THE RAILSPLITTER It was two months after the flat boat stuck on the dam at New Salem and the day following a quiet election in the village, that Nance Cameron ran over to Rutledge Inn with news of great importance for Ann. "Long Shanks has arrived," she announced without ceremony. "Long Shanks?" Ann questioned. "Who is Long Shanks?" "The giant scarecrow, the big baboon," Nance answered. "Baboon," Ann repeated. "Nance what are you talking about?" "My land, Ann Rutledge, have you forgotten the unhinged giant you waved plum blossoms at--the captain of the flat boat who looked like sin, but knew how to use his hat like a gentleman?" "Oh!" answered Ann. "Has _he_ come?" "Yes. He got here yesterday. They didn't have anybody to help at election. Mentor Graham asked him if he could write. He said he could make his rabbit's foot, and so he helped. Mr. Graham says he can write well. Besides, he told them stories, and they liked that. Last night he came to our house." "Tell me about him. What does he look like close to?" "He's the homeliest man God ever put breath into. His legs run down into feet so long he can't find anything big enough to stick them under, and his arms are nearly as long as his legs. He has a big head, big nose, big mouth, big ears, lots of black hair, and he's hard and horny and knotty like a tree--and as green, too." "Did he talk to you?" "No, he didn't pay me any heed at all, but he and Ma got to be good friends before he'd been in the house an hour. She was tired half to death putting up berries and trying to get supper. She put Johnnie watching the baby and he let him roll down the steps. The new man heard him crying and went right out and got him. In five minutes the baby was laughing. This made Ma feel better and she got talking, and first thing I knew he was helping her wash dishes and telling her about what he saw in New Orleans and down the Mississippi. He talks better than he looks." "How does he talk? Has he a big, deep voice and mellow, like the sound of the horn over the tree and river?"