A riANO IN ARKANSAS. 149 



fire to extinguish it, for it blazed out with more vigor 

 than ever. That it was a nni>i( al instrument, made it a 

 rarer tiling in that wild country than if it had been an 

 animal, and people of all sizes, colors, and degrees, were 

 dying to see and hear it. 



Jim Cash was >Io Mercer's right-hand man ; in the 

 language of refined society, he was " Mo's toady," — in 

 the language of Hardscrabble, he was " Mo's wheel- 

 horse." Cash believed in Mo Mercer with an abandon- 

 ment tliat was perfectly ridiculous. Mr. Cash was dy- 

 ing to see the piano, and the first opportunity he had 

 alone with his Quixote, he expressed the desire that 

 was consuming his vitals. 



" We'll go at once and see it," said Mercer. 

 " Strangers ! " echoed the frightened Cash. 

 ' Humbug ! Do you think I have visited the ' Ca- 

 pitol' twice, and don't know how to treat fashionable so- 

 ciety ? Come along at once, Cash," said Mercer. 



Oft' the pair started, Mercer all confidence, and Cash 

 all fears, as to the propriety of the visit. These fears 

 Cash frankly expressed ; but Mercer repeated, for the 

 thousandth time, his experience in the fashionable soci- 

 ety of the " Capitol, and pianos," w^hich he said " was 

 synonymous'' — and he finally told Cash, to comfort him, 

 that however abashed and ashamed he might be in the 

 presence of the ladies, " that he needn't fear of sticking, 

 for he would pull him through." 



A few minutes' walk brought the parties on the 



