"Boyd'll ax questions," she reflected, "'cause he'll be full o' wonderment 'bout this here thing, an' Edgar mout let the right answers slip out. Theonidas can't do that, 'cause he don't know nothin' 'bout the answers." She expected Theonidas to visit her that evening to secure a bag of corn meal that she knew he and Boyd sorely needed. She would send her message by Theonidas, therefore, and would leave the message to take the place of the meal. It was supper time when Theonidas arrived, bringing a wild turkey gobbler and a dozen squirrels on his back. "Them's all right," said Judy, feeling of the game. "Tell Boyd he'd orter 'a' saved 'em to take to Wanalah to-morrow. He'll be a entertainin' folks there an' it 'ud 'a' been handy to have some game in the house." "He ain't a thinkin' o' comin' down the mounting yit," replied the boy in open eyed wonder. "I know he ain't," Judy replied. "But when you git back up there to-night--an' you's a goin' to start back soon's you git yer supper--he'll _be_ a thinkin' about it, an' 'twon't take much thinkin' to set them legs o' his'n a movin'. You come an' git your supper, an' then mosey up the mounting as fast as yer feet kin foller one another. An' you're to tell Boyd that they's the devil to pay an' no funds, down Wanalah way. Tell him I says he's got to git down thar' quick an' face the music." "What's it all about, Mammy?" asked Theonidas with not unnatural curiosity. "That ain't none o' your business," Judy replied, "an' ef you don't know nothin' you can't git it wrong in tellin' it. You jes' say what I's tole you to say, an' by midnight he'll be a stumblin' down the mounting to find out what's the matter. But tell him--now _mind_, Theonidas, an' listen to what I's a sayin'--" for the boy was reaching across the table for a second helping of some dish he specially relished, and Judy feared that he was not attending to her instructions--"listen to what I's a sayin'--" "I's _is_ a listenin', Mammy," the boy replied. "I's heard every word." "Is you? Then what was it I said last?" she demanded. "You said as how that by midnight he'd be a stumblin' down the mounting to find out what's the matter." "Right you is!" said Judy approvingly. "Now that's business, an' so is what I'm a goin' to say. You is to tell him _not to come near Judy Peters's place_. Tell him they's reasons. Tell him to go down t'other road Arricktown way. It's shorter an' quicker, but tell him they's reasons besides the shortness an' quickness. An' when you's tole him all that tell him your Mammy says he kin count on her tell death! That'll cheer him up, like." XX THE SATISFACTION OF W. W. WEBB When William Wilberforce Webb found that he had to fight for an election which he had supposed to be securely his by virtue of his regular nomination as the candidate of the dominant party, he hastily called his friends and advisers together for consultation.