But nobody paid any attention to these quiet two. All interest was centered in Windy Batts, who in a trumpet voice was giving out the words of a song which all who knew him were certain would be sung with great unction and fervor.
He was reading the lines from a hymn-book. At the end of every second line he gave the pitch, whereupon all sang in many keys, but with united fervor.
Into a world of ruffians sent,
I walk on hostile ground;
While human bears, on slaughter bent,
And raving wolves surround.
Between each two lines he shouted, "God have mercy on them Clary Grove sinners! Them ravening wolves! Strike them human bears down!"
Then the hymn went on:
The lion seeks my soul to slay,
In some unguarded hour;
And waits to tear his sleeping prey,
And watches to devour.
"God save us from them Clary Grove lions that seek to devour."
The movements in the shadows just outside the arbor continued, but nobody noticed. The exhorter, calling on God and all the holy angels to witness the truth of his sayings, was drawing a graphic comparison between the righteous and the sinner, especially of that most fallen and hopeless sinner, the Clary Grove sinner.
After the discourse, which was thundered out with tremendous force, the first altar-song was announced,
If you get there before I do,
I'm bound for the land of Ca-na-yan;
Look out for me, I'm coming, too,
I'm bound for the land of Ca-na-yan;