Elias
B. Hopkins, the newest of the inhabitants of Jackman's Gulch, with a
good-humoured smile upon his resolute face.

He held an open Bible in his hand, and was reading aloud a passage taken
at random--an extract from the Apocalypse, if I remember right. The
words were entirely irrelevant and without the smallest bearing upon the
scene before him, but he plodded on with great unction, waving his left
hand slowly to the cadence of his words.

There was a general shout of laughter and applause at this apparition,
and Jackman's Gulch gathered round the barrel approvingly, under the
impression that this was some ornate joke, and that they were about
to be treated to some mock sermon or parody of the chapter read. When,
however, the reader, having finished the chapter, placidly commenced
another, and having finished that rippled on into another one, the
revellers came to the conclusion that the joke was somewhat too
long-winded. The commencement of yet another chapter confirmed this
opinion, and an angry chorus of shouts and cries, with suggestions as to
gagging the reader or knocking him off the barrel, rose from every side.
In spite of roars and hoots, however, Elias B. Hopkins plodded away at
the Apocalypse with the same serene countenance, looking as ineffably
contented as though the babel around him were the most gratifying
applause. Before long an occasional boot pattered against the barrel or
whistled past our parson's head; but here some of the more orderly of
the inhabitants interfered in favour of peace and order, aided curiously
enough by the afore-mentioned Maule and Phillips, who warmly espoused
the cause of the little Scripture reader. "The little cus has got
grit in him," the latter explained, rearing his bulky red-shirted form
between the crowd and the object of its anger. "His ways ain't our ways,
and we're all welcome to our opinions, and to sling them round from
barrels or otherwise if so minded. What I says and Bill says is, that
when it comes to slingin' boots instead o' words it's too steep by
half, an' if this man's wronged we'll chip in an' see him righted." This
oratorical effort had the effect of checking the more active signs of
disapproval, and the party of disorder attempted to settle down once
more to their carouse, and to ignore the shower of Scripture which was
poured upon them. The attempt was hopeless. The drunken portion fell
asleep under the drowsy refrain, and the others, with many a s