Diggs

“ The under-masters looked on with stern countenances and lowering brows; while old Ketch never had had such a disappointment in all his life (the one grand disappointment of last night excepted) as he was feeling now, at the deferred flogging.
Diggs, the boat-house keeper, was a widower, with one child, a girl of ten years old. His mother lived with him—an aged woman, confined to her bed, of late, with rheumatic fever, from which she was slowly recovering. On the previous night Diggs was out, and the girl had been sent on an errand, Mrs. Diggs being left in the house alone. ”

“ But they had still the point to settle of how to get Diggs to take the things without hurting his feelings. This they solved by leaving them in his study, which was never locked when he was out. Diggs, who had attended the auction, remembered who had bought the lots, and came to their study soon after, and sat silent for some time, cracking his great red finger-joints. Then he laid hold of their verses, and began looking over and altering them, and at last got up, and turning his back to them, said, “You're uncommon good-hearted little beggars, you two. ”

“ He suffered himself to slip from the saddle, and in doing so, dragged his two assailants with him, each encircled by one of his powerful arms. Once upon the ground they realized that it was not an easy work which they had undertaken, for those great arms enfolded them with a gripe which literally drove the breath from their bodies, strong men as they were. A moment more and Jim Diggs was down with the huge foot of the hunter planted on his breast, while above him stood the stalwart old man with Rafe Norris in his grasp, shaking him until it seemed as if he would tear him limb from limb. ”

“ The minister sat silently holding his watch, noting the swift flying moments, his lips moving in silent prayer for the soul of the man, who was soon to appear at the bar of God.
Ten o'clock came. There was a rattling of keys, a sliding of iron bolts and bars, and the jailer called the name of
"Patrick Henry Diggs!"
The minister and all, in the doomed man's cell, bowed for a moment in silence, then the good man lifted up his voice to that God, whom all the universe worships, in a prayer for a soul about to take flight. ”

“ That’s one reason, though I don’t blame you as I do Colonel Carson.”
“What can a fellow do when he needs the money?” and Diggs shrugged his shoulders good-naturedly.
[313]
“He can get busy and make it cleanly,” retorted Chip, watching the other. With a quick impulse he added: “And if he’d cut out the booze, Diggs.”
Diggs flushed and his eyes kindled. Then he smiled again and nodded.
“Right you are, Merriwell, and I know you mean me. Well, I’m only twenty-four, and if I brace up I’d have a few years ahead of me of baseball. ”

“ There were two men in the Brotherhood whom he grew early to hate with cordial, thorough, murderous hatred—Roland Adair, the Bard of Ramcat, who always denounced every decision as unjust, and a tall, hooked-nosed, stoop-shouldered, scholarly looking man named Diggs, who invariably sat near him and at every conceivable opportunity asked questions. These questions were always put in an innocent, friendly [167] way, but when Diggs looked at him through his gleaming spectacles Norman always got the impression that an imp of the devil had suddenly popped up through the floor. ”

“ Diggs. "Good morning, Mr. Tompkins. Well—hem—I am—that is, I am—hem—glad to see you. I was just going to have my man drive me out to your house. Have a little important business with—that is with one member of your family, he—he he!"
"Diggs, I hear that you have enlisted in the Confederate army; is it so?" asked Abner, abruptly.
"Well, sir, I expect—that is, I apprehend, my dear sir, that—you—perhaps are correctly informed."
"Why, Diggs, what in the world do you mean?" asked Abner.
"Oh, our country is too large; should be divided. We intend to build up a vast Southern empire. ”

“ They had been flying over a level piece of cleared land, but now a thick body of timber and brush loomed up before them. There was yet a chance. Once in the timber, Diggs might elude his dangerous pursuer. The Confederate cavalryman evidently understood this, for, with a whack he sent his saber into the scabbard, and drew his pistol, without once slacking his speed.
"Oh, Lordy! I shall be killed this time sure," bawled Diggs. Again he glanced toward the cavalryman and saw him raise his deadly weapon. Diggs yelled, screamed, and [Pg 151] implored, all the while urging January to greater speed. ”

“ But some men would never understand women, though they lived to be a thousand, and got rejected once a day.
Out in the moonlight, with the Governor's wine singing in his blood, he found that his emotions had a way of tripping lightly off his tongue. There were hot words with Diggs, who hinted that Virginia was not the beauty of the century, and threats of blows with Morson, who too boldly affirmed that she was. In the end Champe rode between them, and sent Prince Rupert on his way with a touch of the whip. ”

“ Tom hastened to nominate Norman and Barbara. The old miner's speech was couched in plain, uncouth words, but they came from the heart and their rugged eloquence stirred the [256] crowd with surprising power. Diggs glanced over the audience through his flashing glasses, and his perpetual smile faded into a look of uneasiness as a round of applause swept the house. ”

“ Diggs to the dining-room.
After tea the little fellow followed her back to the parlor, and she resigned herself to be bored for an hour or more by him, but did not yet suspect the real cause of his visit.
"Hem—hem," began Mr. Diggs, "Miss Irene, these are troublous times."
"They are indeed," answered Irene, from her seat opposite the loquacious Mr. Diggs.
"We don't know one minute what will happen the next."
"No, we do not," said Irene, who really did not imagine what was to happen on this occasion.
"Hem, hem! two large armies are raising." ”

“ His search for the trail took him to Snagtown.
Patrick Henry Diggs, whom we met in his boyhood as the youthful orator at Mr. Tompkins' was, in 1860, a lawyer. His parents were dead, leaving him a limited education, a superficial knowledge of law, and a very small property. The paternal homestead was mortgaged, but Mr. Diggs still kept old Mose, for the sake of being a slaveholder and maintaining aristocratic appearance. Mr. Diggs had but little practice, and found it a difficult thing to make his own living. ”

“ Diggs endeavored to look the character of a wounded knight from Flodden Field.
"Pray, Corporal Diggs, tell me all; our cause is not, must not be lost. The South—but, pardon me, you are wounded, weak, and faint—"
Diggs had put one of his arms in a sling and had bound a bandage on his head.
"Sarah, bring wine here at once. Ah! you must have been very closely engaged with the enemy from the number of your wounds."
The wine was brought, and Diggs, now refreshed, gave eager Mrs. Juniper a glowing account of the battle at Carrick's Ford. ”

“ The boy, full of his father's conviction, and of a conceit all his own, felt within his soul a rising greatness which one day would make him the foremost man of the Nation. He did not object to his father's plan; he was willing to become either a statesman or a lawyer, but having read the life of Washington, he would have chosen to be a general, only that there were now no redcoats to fight. Poor as Diggs' family was, they boasted that they associated only with the elite of Southern society. ”

“ Tom Scott lost a thumb by a random shot, but he did not lose either of the two turkeys he had started with.
"Who were they, Seth?" Diggs heard a voice outside ask.
"I don't know; abolition soldiers, probably, stealing chickens," replied another voice.
Diggs thought he had heard both voices before, but in his terror he was not sure.
"Guess they got no chickens," said a third voice, and Diggs could hear the speaker ramming a load down his gun.
"Let's take a look in the barn," said the first speaker. "Halloa! if they ain't left their lanterns burning; left in a hurry, I guess." ”

“ A man with a heart of stone might have felt compassion for Diggs. The little fellow's vanity and boasting were gone. He was humble and meek, and he seldom spoke. [Pg 198] Even his fellow prisoners treated him with consideration, and endeavored to cheer and encourage him. Captain Tompkins obtained leave of absence, went to the Junction, and took the first train for Washington. ”

“ The "grinstun organ," as David Diggs, the hero of Hewett's Parish Clerk calls it, was not always to be depended on. Every one knows the Lancashire dialect story of the "Barrel Organ" which refused to stop, and had to be carried out of church and sat upon, and yet still continued to pour forth its dirge-like melody.
David Diggs may not have been a strictly historical character, but the sketch of him was doubtless founded upon fact, and the account of the introduction of the barrel-organ into the church of "Seatown" on the coast of Sussex is evidently drawn from life. ”

“ Mr. Diggs was very courteous, very business-like, very anxious to be of use. But Audrey was keen enough to see that he did not want to do this thing. But she insisted so steadily, refused so persistently to listen to his various excuses, that finally he said suddenly: “I’ll see if the duchess will do it,” and, seizing his hat, was going to rush out, when she insisted upon accompanying him.
“I’ve got to go out to Epsom. Madame de Vicenza lives at ‘The Briars,’ a big house out there,” objected Diggs, disconcerted by her persistency. ”

“ Coming head first into the stomach of the Douglasite, he sent boy, pumpkin, and turnips into the gutter.
The enraged young Douglasite scrambled to his feet, and, leaving his vegetables behind, started in hot pursuit of the now fleeing Breckinridgeite, while shouts and cheers went up from the many spectators.
Mr. Diggs came along, engaged in conversation with a farmer whom he was trying to persuade to vote for himself and Breckinridge, for Mr. Diggs was a candidate for the office of District Attorney. ”

“ We got somethin' else to do now—set down!"
"These are only friendly suggestions for thought [172] as we develop our ideal," Diggs answered, with smiling good nature, as he resumed his seat.
"What makes me want to kill that man," Norman muttered to Barbara, "is the unfailing politeness and unction with which he asks those questions." ”

“ Preliminary matters settled, Howard Jones rose and addressed the chairman of the meeting, stating that, as they had with them the distinguished attorney, Patrick Henry Diggs, who was in sympathy with the cause, he would like to hear from him.
Despite the stirring times, everybody present was eagerly expectant of fun. Cries for Diggs were heard all over the house. Mr. Diggs' opinion of Jones rose rapidly.
"Mr. Speaker," began Mr. Diggs, rising and gazing about through his glasses, "in the language of one of old
"'I come not here to talk. ”

“ Mr. Diggs, drawing himself up to his full height, which was hardly imposing.
"When I make a man of mud, and go off and leave him, to get people to come and look at him, I don't want him to go off, as you did, before I come back."
Abner Tompkins, and several others, who had heard the story of Joe's mud man, were now almost bursting with suppressed merriment. ”

“ Diggs expatiating on crime in general and housebreaking in particular, and I fancied I could also hear Bunch boiling and seething within.
[Illustration: Aunt Martha—a Short, Stout Bundle of Good Nature.]
"Mr. Buggular," Diggs was saying, "I don't know just what your home trainin' was as a child, but they's a screw loose somewhere or you'd a'never been brought to this here harrowful perdickyment, nohow. I s'pose you jest started in nat'rally to be a heenyus maleyfactor early in life, huh? ”

“ The soldiers rested on their guns.
Abner Tompkins was among them in a minute, and declared the prisoner free by the authority of Abraham Lincoln.
When released, Diggs sprang to his feet and, in his joy, embraced the preacher, embraced the officers and would have embraced the soldiers, had not one threateningly pointed his bayonet at him.
As they returned to the village, all pleased with the happy result, Corporal Grimm, approaching the minister, said:
"I shall always hereafter be a believer in the saving power of prayer. Praying often and praying long, does the work." ”

“ In the first place, I must tell you that I was born in Omaha, and my father, who was a politician, named me Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs, Diggs being the last name because he could think of no more to go before it. ”

“ As they left the dining-room, which was in the basement, and ascended to the hall, Diggs glanced into the reception-rooms and nodded respectfully at the brocaded chairs.
"I like the looks of that, governor," he said, "but it's a pity you can't find a wife. A woman gives an air to things, you know." Then he cocked an eye at the ceiling. "This old house ain't much more than a fire trap, anyway," he added. "The trouble is it's gotten old-fashioned just like the Capitol building over there. ”

“ He commenced to speak about the Stars and Stripes.
"Oh, thunder! go back to Rome if you can't make a better secession speech," said Jones.
The truth was that Mr. Diggs, like a great many others at this time, hardly knew which side he was on. ”

“ He was one of the foremost of the political gossipers of Snagtown, and had filled his present position for several years.
'Squire Diggs was hardly in what might be termed even moderate circumstances, though he and his family made great pretension in society. He was one of that rare class in Virginia—a poor man who had managed by some inexplicable means, to work his way into the better class of society. His wife, unlike himself, was tall, slender and sharp visaged. Like him, she was an incessant talker, and her gossip frequently caused trouble in the neighborhood. ”