ho had believed in him, now
forgetting all else, scrambled for the scattered money--their money--he
fled out of the unguarded door and was instantly gone into the shielding
night--a sorry shape in a bob-tailed garment.

At a somewhat later hour Judge Priest in his living room was receiving
from Jefferson Poindexter a much lengthier and more elaborated account
of the main occurrences of the evening at Hillman's Hall than has here
been presented. Speaking as he did in the dual role of spectator and of
an actuating force in the events of that crowded and exciting night,
Jeff spared no details. He had come to the big scene of his narrative
when his master interrupted him:

"Hold on a minute, Jeff! I don't know ez I get the straight of it all
yit. I rather gathered frum whut you told me yesterday when you landed
back home and made your report that you'd only been able to dig up one
certain-sure wife of this feller's--the one that came along with you and
that little Arkansaw darky. You didn't say anything then about bein'
able to prove he wuz a bigamist."

"Huh, jedge, I didn't have to prove it! Dat man wuz more'n jes' a plain
bigamist. He sho' wuz a trigamist, an' ef the full truth wuz knowed I
'spects he wuz a quadrupler at the very least. He proved it hisself--way
he act' w'en the big 'splosion come."

"But the two women you told him were waitin' behind those side doors for
him--how about them?"

"Law, jedge, dey wuzn't dere--neither one of 'em wuzn't. Jes' lak I told
you yistiddy, I couldn't find only jest one woman dat nigger'd married
an' run off frum, an' her I fetched 'long wid me. But lak I also told
you, I got kind of traces of one dat uster live below Macon but w'ich is
now vanished, an' ever'whar else I went whar he'd lived befo' he come
yere de signs wuz manifold dat he wuz a natchel-born marryin' fool, jes'
lak I 'spicioned fust time ever I see him. So w'en he started fur dat
fust do' I taken a chancet on him an' w'en I seen how he cringed an'
ducked back I taken another chancet on him, an' the subsequent evidences
offers testimony dat both times I reckined right. Jedge, the late Doct'
Duvall muster married some powerful rough-actin' gals in his time ef he
thought the Mobile one wuz the gentlest out of three. Well, anyway, suh,
the ravelin' wolf is gone frum us, an' fur one I ain't 'spectin' him
back never no mo'. An' I reckin dat's the main pint wid you an' me
both."

"The ravelin' whut?"

"Dat's whut