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Slowly he pushed open the side door of the hotel and paused in the darkened hallway to stare at the crack of yellow light that showed beneath the door of Number 11. "A'm no lak' dis fool 'roun' wit' 'omen." He made a wry face and knocked gingerly. Jennie Dodds opened the door, and for a moment eyed the half-breed with frowning disfavour. "Look a here, Bat Lajune, is this on the level?
"My old Marster was de bes' man in de worl'. I jus' wish I could tell, an' make it plain, jus' how good him an' old Mistis was. Marster was a rich man. He owned 'bout a thousand an' five hund'ed acres o' lan' an' roun' a hund'ed slaves. Marster's big two-story white house wid lightning rods standin' all 'bout on de roof set on top of a hill.
He made de tasks bigger en de rashuns littler, en w'en de niggers had wukked all day, he 'd fin' sump'n fer 'em ter do roun' de ba'n er som'ers atter da'k, fer ter keep 'em busy a' hour er so befo' dey went ter sleep.
Man, he tuck'n sot a trap for Brer Rabbit, en Brer Rabbit he so greedy dat he tuck'n walk right spang in it, 'fo' he know hisse'f. Well, 'twa'n't long 'fo' yer come Mr. Man, broozin' 'roun', en he ain't no sooner see ole Brer Rabbit dan he smack his han's tergedder en holler out: "'You er nice feller, you is! Yer you bin gobblin' up my green truck, en now you tryin' ter tote off my trap.
But ef you gits rheumatiz er fever en agur, er ef you er snake-bit er p'isen' wid some yarb er 'nuther, er ef a tree falls on you, er a ha'nt runs you en makes you git 'stracted in yo' min', lack some folks I knows w'at went foolin' 'roun' dat piece er lan', you can't say I neber wa'ned you, suh, en tol' you w'at you mought look fer en be sho' ter fin'."
Teacheh allers seemed diff'rent; ev'ry once in a while, one of us would see him walkin' on the edge of a cliff, or fin' him dizzily hangin' on to somethin' for fear o' fallin'." "How long did that go on?" queried Hamilton. "'Bout a month, I reckon. An' Teacheh was in trouble more'n more all the time, because folks wouldn' have him boardin' 'roun', same's he'd allers done." "Why not?"
A hundred yards beyond lay a long, dark figure stretched at full length under one of the trees close to the bank. "Looks like a man," said Jonathan. "You've hit the mark. Take a good peep roun' now, Jack, fer we're comin' somewhere near the trail we want."
I no see dat someting yet. We sure see de long snout, by 'm by." "The long snout! what do you mean by that, Snowy?" "Wha do a mean? de long-nose a mean. Tole ye so! dar he be yonner, right on de la'bord quarter. Dis nigger knew he no far off. Da's why de beauties hab come roun de raff; an dat I hope keep um hyar till we hab cotch a few ob dem!"
Buzzard gwine ter git 'im? sez de Buzzard, sezee. "'Well, dar's a little hole roun' on de udder side er de tree, sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'en ef Brer Tukkey Buzzard wuz here so he could take up his stan' dar, sezee, 'I'd drive dat squir'l out, sezee. "'Drive 'im out, den, sez Mr. Buzzard, sezee, 'en I'll see dat Brer Tukkey Buzzard gits 'im, sezee.
I has to have meat." Then Jim rose gravely, and looked at what he called his kitchen. "'Nough to last three or four weeks," he said. "We'll shorely get fat an' lazy layin' roun' here an' doin' nothin' but eatin' an' sleepin' an' listenin' to Paul's tales." "You ought to appreciate your chance, Jim Hart," said Shif'less Sol.
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