oor, an' I hammered on it with
my knuckles, while Ches kicked me on the shins an' tried to get away.
Finally Mrs. Cameron raised an upstairs window an' began shootin' with
her bean-blower. I've no idy what she was shootin' at; but she hit me
twice in the boot-leg, an' blame if it didn't sting like a whip.

Ches jerked loose while I was rubbin' the sore spot, an' as I glanced
up I saw the three dark forms comin' after us followed closer by the
devil-dragon, his face fairly drippin' with liquid fire. The whole
bunch of 'em looked outrageous big, an' I felt about as massive an'
forceful as an angle-worm; but at that, I managed to open the celler
door, an' tried to get Ches to come in too. "Ches," I whispered, for I
hadn't strength enough to yell, "Ches, come on in an' save yourself;"
but he never gave no heed. He just stood crouching over in the shadow
while they headed for him, devil-dragon an' all.

I wanted to crawl into the cellar alone, but I lacked just one grain of
havin' moral courage enough, so I stood still with my knees beatin'
together, watchin' 'em come. My heart ached to think that he was out of
his head an' fairly throwin' himself away, an' then all of a sudden, it
flashed upon me that the blame fool was playin' football. On they
charged like a stampeded herd, a-screechin' like a run-away freight
wagon with dry axles, while that pink-checked tenderfoot stood in his
tracks, as calm an' cool as the North Star, until they arrived at the
proper distance, an' then he sorted out the big one in the center an'
dove for his legs.

They went up in the air, like a long-horn foolin' with the leg-throw
for the first time, the other two bumped into them, the fire-faced
devil-dragon slipped through, caught me full in the pantry, an' we all
avalanched into the celler in one mixed up tangle. I can't describe it
to you. I saw a photograph oncet of the bottomless pit at a revival
meeting, and this lay-out was a card out of the same deck. I ain't
stuck-up nor exclusive; but hang me if I ever want to get into such a
mixed crowd again. We bit an' kicked an' hammered each other till I
felt like quartz at a stamp-mill. The only light we had, came from the
Chinese devil'-an' I 'd a heap sooner had none.

Finally I got hold of two cues, an' it give me a logical purpose. I
simply took a short hold on those cues an' bumped the heads they
belonged to, together, until that dragon caught sight of me an' hit me
a thump in the back that