He hadn't expected to be met jest that way, mebby.

Whether he himself had really believed in the coming of that there new Messiah he had been perdicting, I never could settle in my mind.

Mebby he had been getting ready to pass HIMSELF off fur one before we come along and the niggers all got the fool idea Doctor Kirby was it.

Before the bishop spoke agin you could see his craziness and his cunningness both working in his face.

But when he did speak he didn't quit being ceremonious nor dignified.
"De wohd has gone fo'th among de faiful an' de puah in heaht," he says, "dat er man has come accredited wi' signs an' wi' mahvels an' de poweh o' de sperrit fo' to lay his han' on de sons o' Ham an' ter make 'em des de same in colluh as de yuther sons of ea'th." "Then that word is a lie," says the doctor.