"Dot vos der stuff. Let her go, Gallup!"
So the country lad opened his mouth and began to sing in a droning, drawling way:
"Yankee Dewdle came ter taown
'Long with Cap'n Goodwill,
An' there he saw the boys an' gals
As thick ez hasty poodin'."
"Louder!" commanded several voices.
So Ephraim repeated the stanza, singing still louder.
"Dot vos petter," complimented Hans; "bud id don'd peen loudt enough to blease Lieudenant Cordan."
"Louder! louder!" ordered the yearlings. "Open your mouth and let the sound out. You can never expect to sing if you pen the words up in such a cavern as that."
This time Ephraim shouted the words at the tops of his lungs, and he was complimented on all sides, while Barney Mulloy hastily said:
"Kape roight at it, an' kape on singing till ye're towld t' stop by me. Ye know my voice, an' don't ye moind another thot spakes to yez. Av he kapes bothering av ye, tell him to let ye alone, ur you'll kick th' back-strap av his trousers clane out through th' top av his head. Oi'll shtand by yez. Now, let her go again, an' kape at it."
The country boy began once more, and this time he bellowed the words so they could be heard for a mile.