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If you get the door open, you may go in and find the Sleepy-headed People, the Invisible People, and all the rest, ke-whack!" "Ke-whack!" said Bob, mimicking, and grinning till he showed his row of white milk-teeth.
Not knowing what to do, he returned to the door and put the key up where the nimble key-hole had been, whereupon it reappeared, the gold key inserted itself, and the door opened of its own accord. Bob eagerly tried to enter, but there stood somebody in the door, blocking the passage. "Hello!" said Bob. "You here, Ole Ke-whack? How did you get in? By the back door, I 'low."
Fly-up-the-creek only nodded and said ke-whack two or three times, by way of clearing his throat. "Maybe you'd like to see the folks underground, ke-whack," he added presently. "If you would, I can show you the door and how to unlock it. It's right under the next cliff, ke-whack!
Sure enough, the fairy now wore a yellow cap, and, quick as thought, he stepped out to where the key was lying, and struck it twice with his nose, whereupon it changed to a pair of three-toed boots, which he quickly drew on. Then he turned and bowed to Bobby, and said: "Ke-whack! You've ironed my coat and vest, and brushed my cap and blacked my boots. Good-day, ke-whack, I'm going to the party.
"Oh!" said Towpate, "why didn't you say so?" Then he tossed the gold key down on the ground, where he had found the iron one, but the key stood straight up, waving itself to and fro, while Bobby came out with his drawling: "Well, I never!" "Pick it up! Pick it up! Ke-whack! You've pitched my yellow waistcoat into the dirt, ke-whack, ke-whack!" "Oh! You call that a wescut, do you. Well, I never!"
But the gentleman stake-driver must have been offended, for he walked away into the water and disappeared among the willows, saying, "Ke-whack! ke-whack!" in an indignant way at every step. When once the stake-driver fairy had gone, Bob was troubled. He was lonesome. He had always been lonesome, because the family was so large. There is never any company for a body where there are so many.
You can go in if you want to." Bobby stood for some time, looking after him as he flew away along the creek, crying "ke-whack, ke-whack, ke-whack!" And Bobby said once again: "Well, I never, in all my born'd days," and then added, "Haint Daddy Longlegs peart? Thinks he's some in his yaller wescut, I 'low."
People call them stake-drivers because their musical voices sound like the driving of a stake: "Ke-whack! ke-whack!" They also call them "Fly-up-the-creeks," and plenty of ugly names besides.
Now Bob wished that "Ole Ke-whack," as he called him, had not walked off into the willows in such a huff. He would like to see who lived under the ground, you know. After a while, he thought he would go and look for the door under the cliff. Bobby called it "clift," after the manner of the people on the Indian Kaintuck. Once under the cliff, he was a long time searching around for a door.
He reached the door at last, but it was closed. There was no key-hole even. After looking around a long time he found the Fly-up-the-creek fairy, not far from the door, sitting by a fire, with a large, old owl sitting over against him. "Give me the key to the door, Ole Ke-whack!" said Bobby. "Oh, no! I will not give you my clothes, ke-whack! Do you think I would give you my party clothes?
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