"
"You bet it is!" said the bold leader.
"In that case," said I, "I will play 'Yankee Doodle.'"
I played. All the boys, including the little chap, came up around
me, and two of them sat down quite familiarly on the grass. I
never had a more devoted audience. I don't know what interesting
event might have happened next, for the bold leader, who stood
nearest, was becoming dangerously inflated with questions--I
don't know what might have happened had we not been interrupted
by the appearance of a Spectre in Black. It appeared before us
there in the broad daylight in the middle of a sunny afternoon
while we were playing "Yankee Doodle." First I saw the top of a
black hat rising over the rim of the hill. This was followed
quickly by a black tie, a long black coat, black trousers, and,
finally, black shoes. I admit I was shaken, but being a person
of iron nerve in facing such phenomena, I continued to play
"Yankee Doodle." In spite of this counter-attraction, toward
which all four boys turned uneasy glances, I held my audience.
The Black Spectre, with a black book under its arm, drew nearer.
Still I continued to play and nod my head and tap my toe. I felt
like some modern Pied Piper piping away the children of these
modern hills--piping them away from older people who could not
understand them.
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