" said somebody.

"Take advantage of his contrariness, and try to drive him 't other way,"
said somebody else.

"Ride him," proposed a third.

"Make a whistle of his tail, an' blow it, an' he'll foller ye!" screamed
a bright school-boy.

"Stick some of yer tailor's needles into him!" "Sew him up in a sack,
and shoulder him!" "Take up his hind-legs, and push him like a
wheelbarrer!" And so forth, and so forth, till Bill was in a fearful
sweat and rage, partly with the pig, but chiefly with the uncivil
multitude.

"Ruther carry me on your back, some rainy night, hadn't ye?" said
Fessenden's, in all simplicity, perceiving his distress.

"You didn't excruciate my wrist so like time!" groaned Bill. And what
was more, darkness covered that other memorable journey.

As for Joe, he liked it. Though he was not allowed to ride the
ridge-pole and wave a flag through the village, as he proposed, he had
plenty of fun on foot. He went swinging his chickens, and frequently
pinching them to make them musical. The laughter of the lookers-on
didn't trouble him in the least; for he could laugh louder than any. But
his sisters were ashamed, and Mr. Williams looked grave; for they were,
actually, human! and I suppose they didn't like to be jeered at, and
called a swarm of niggers, any more than you or I would.

So the journey was accomplished; and the stupendous joke of Frisbie's
was achieved. Conceive Mrs. Gingerford's wonder, when she beheld the ark
approaching! Fancy her feelings, when she saw it towed up and moored in
front of her own door,--the whole tribe of Noah, lowing cow, bawling
calf, squawking poultry, and squealing pig, and so forth, and so forth,
accompanying! This, then, was the meaning of the masons at work over
there since yesterday. They had been preparing the new foundations on
which the old house was to rest. So the stunning truth broke upon her:
niggers for neighbors! What had she done to merit such a dispensation?

What done, unhappy lady? Your own act has drawn down upon you this
retribution. You yourself have done quite as much towards bringing that
queer craft along-side as yonder panting and lolling oxen. They are but
the brute instruments, while you have been a moral agent in the matter.
One word, uttered by you three nights ago, has had the terrible magic in
it to summon forth from the mysterious womb of events this extraordinary
procession. Had but a different word been spoken, it would have proved
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