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'And if you hadn't made up your mind to go to Thompsontown, you and me'd never got stuck at the toll-gate with nothin' but a five-dollar note. I'm mighty glad we was stuck, Cap'n Abner; I'm mighty glad we was stuck! "Thereupon the two friends shook hands again. "'But there is one thing I want to ask, said Sam. 'What about the gilded idol and the king conch-shell?
"'I suppose you are surprised to meet me here, said the toll-gate woman, 'but this is the way of it: a neighbor and his wife came along soon after you left, and offered to bring me to Thompsontown; and of course I jumped at the chance, and left the toll-gate in charge of my brother, who lives hard by.
"'I tell you, cap'n, said Sam, very earnestly, 'it won't do. You might hang round Thompsontown for a year, and you wouldn't find any two such women as them two. Here they are, two kinds to pick from: one of them as ripe as a peach, and the other like a cross between a cricket and a blossom. And you've got no time to fool away. When the sun goes down you've got to sail back to Thompsontown, and then one will go one way and the other another, and where the minister will go to, nobody knows. They'll all be scattered and out of sight, and this glorious chance you've got might as well be at the bottom of the sea. Now, cap'n, I tell you, this thing that's right afore you is what you come for. Jes you listen to what I say to you: you go to that Mrs.
"'All my life, was the answer. "'Then why didn't you take her afore? asked his friend. "'Because I hadn't been to Thompsontown to see what I could get there. Of course I didn't want to take anybody here until I found out what there was in Thompsontown. Now I know there ain't nothin' for me there. "'And so you take Susan Shellbark! interrupted Sam. "'And so I take Susan Shellbark.
"'And how are you goin'? Walkin'? "'No, sir, said Abner. 'I'm goin' to hire a horse and a buggy. That's how I'm goin'. "'And where are you goin' to steer fust? asked Sam. "'I'm goin' fust to Thompsontown, and after I've took my observations there I'll fetch a compass and sail every which way, if need be.
Even if you don't take her now, it's my advice that you look at her sharp with the idea that if things don't turn out in Thompsontown as you'd like them to, it would be mighty comfortin' to you to pick her up on your way back.
"But no matter. The two friends started out on Monday morning after breakfast for Thompsontown. Considerable delay was occasioned at the livery-stable by certain pieces of advice which Sam Twitty offered to Captain Abner.
"Toward the middle of the afternoon they reached Thompsontown, where the young clergyman said he was going to stop for the night, and go on by train the next day. Sam Twitty was glad to hear this, and advised him to stop at the Spinnaker Boom, where he and Captain Abner intended to stay until they finished the business which brought them to Thompsontown.
That's like holdin' a landin'-net ready to scoop her up the minute you get her to the top of the water. "They stopped and asked the clergyman if he were going to Thompsontown, and when he said he was, they invited him to get in and take the unoccupied seat. He proved to be an agreeable companion; he was young and very grateful.
"Sam looked at his friend for a moment, and then burst out laughing. 'Give me your hand, he cried. 'I'm mighty glad you've got Susan Shellbark, and I'm mighty glad you went to Thompsontown. "'So am I, said Captain Abner. 'If I hadn't gone to Thompsontown I'd never have got Susan Shellbark. "'That's so, cried Sam.
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