"I haint told it nowheres."
"You just the same as told; you hinted."
"Wouldn't 'ave 'inted ef they hadn't kept slappin' at me," was Bob's defense, which did not go far toward soothing the mortified Clara.
Not all of this party were pert talkers. Two were modest: Valentine Duke and Mat Snead. These sat together, forming what the others called the Quaker settlement, from the silence which prevailed in it. The silence was now broken by a remark from Valentine Duke irrelevant to any preceding.
"Nuts are plentier at Hawley's Grove than at Crow Roost," he jerked, out, and then locked up again.
"Say we go there, then," said Kit Pott.
"Let's take the vote on it. Those in favor of Hawley's say aye."
The ayes came storming out, as though each was bound to be the first and loudest.
"Contrary, no," continued the self-made president; and Bob Trotter voted solidly "No!"
"We didn't ask you to vote," said Dick, returning to his quarrel.