Then he set about assisting Aunt Nancy, working so industriously that Deacon Downs said in a tone of faint approbation,—
"That there little hunchback seems right handy if he wants to, an' if he wasn't so given to fightin' it might be a good thing for Aunt Nancy to have him around; but when once a boy gets as quarrelsome as this one, it ain't much use trying to make anything out of him."
The majority of the party were of the same opinion, and from that time forth it was believed, at least by those who were present when the deacon spoke, that Jack was a boy who would fight under the slightest provocation.
Not until the bell had rung as a signal that the evening services were about to begin did Jack and Aunt Nancy cease their labors.
The other occupants of the tent had already departed, and the little woman and her assistant were so tired it seemed almost too great an exertion to walk to the auditorium.
"Why not go to bed?" Jack asked. "I'll take care of Louis until he gets sleepy, an' then bring him to you."
"No, it would be wrong to remain here when so many truths will be presented, simply because I chance to be tired."
"Then we'll all go"; and Jack lifted Louis in his arms.
Aunt Nancy enjoyed the services so much that Jack was very glad she had come; but as for himself he believed the time would have been quite as profitably spent in sleeping.
On the following morning at daybreak Deacon Downs aroused the hunchback with a harshly spoken command to build the fire and awaken Aunt Nancy when it was burning.