“Boys, we’re getting the worst of it! Better let the gorilla alone!”
But the General turned to his coachman, frowning.
“Jacob. I am ashamed of you! Here’s a set of poor fellows out for their rare holiday chaffing you a little with harmless words, and you answer them with hard blows!”
“You told me to ‘let ’em have it,’” muttered Jake.
“But not in blows; in words, you stupid fellow!”
“I couldn’t answer ’em so.”
“But suppose they retorted in kind? They can throw missiles as well as you can.”
“They are welkim!” grumbled Jake.
“What, and hurt and maybe kill the ladies? Jake I’m more ashamed of you than ever.”
A commotion in the crowd ahead, a gradual unloosening of the lock of wheels, warned our travelers that the way was clear, and carriages of all sorts moved on, at first slowly, and then as the throng thinned more rapidly, until it began to look like the multitudinous race of fast trotting horses in harness on the Bloomingdale Road.