“I’ll bet you five thousand dollars, even money, and put it into the hands of any one you say?” Badger shrieked excitedly. “And there’s a taste of your own med’cine that you’ve been so willin’ to ladle out to the rest of us. Put up or shet up!”
This sturdy retort caught Hiram napping, and his open mouth and the confusion on his face showed it.
The other men whom he had called upon leaped up and made similar overtures of wagers.
The crowd began to laugh boisterously.
For the first few moments the voters had wavered between shocked astonishment and anger. But the town understood so well the showman’s extravagances of speech and actions that on second thought this last performance seemed only another of his prodigious bluffs. Now to behold him badgered in the same fashion in which he had badgered Palermo, and backing away from the bets, was too much for their risibilities. The more they laughed the more utter became his confusion. The whole thing had turned out so differently from what he expected.
“I’ll bet ye five thousand to two,” shrilled Badger, excited by his success and by the applause. “And I’ll stump ye to bet! I’ll stump ye!”
The mirth broke out again, for Hiram pulled out his handkerchief and scrubbed it over his reddening face.
“This has gone far enough, townsmen!” called the Squire. “It isn’t seemly to conduct town affairs in this manner.”
He had mounted the platform, and his firm tones quieted them.
“It isn’t seemly, either, for an irresponsible person to lose his head and make accusations that he cannot back up. It is a deplorable thing that has just happened here, townsmen.”