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Oh no! this was not Satan in disguise. When did the enemy ever counsel a boy to ask his mother! Birt still stared gravely at him. All the details of his garb, manner, speech, even the hammer in his hand, were foreign to the boy's experience. Presently he ventured a question. "Do you-uns hail from hyar- abouts?" The stranger was frank and communicative.
"I reckon you'd better not do any more sleepin' here," he said uneasily. "Bug pulled me aside, and said I should tell you-uns to light out afore daybreak, 'cause the other fellar will surely come back an' lay fur the chap what shot him. I dunno where Bug picked him up, or who he is. He looks like a tramp, with his dirty beard and wicked eyes. H's a mighty bad man when he gits riled, Bug says.
Gi'me a swallow in a cup, I'm as dry as powder. What do you-uns mean by bein' in the business ef you cayn't send out a load oftener'n this? I'll start to 'stillin' myse'f. I know how the dang truck's made; nothin' but corn-meal an' water left standin' till it rots, an' " "Revenue men's as thick through heer as flies in summer-time," broke in the man at the faucet. "Sh! what's that?"
The shadowy form of the doubter who had introduced the subject, thick-set, stoop-shouldered, showed in its attitude that he was lowering and ill at ease. "Waal, you-uns hev made a powerful botch of the simple little trick of drawing a bead on a revenuer anyhow. Takin' one man fur another I never dreamed o' the beat! Copenny war so sure o' the man an' the mare! I never purtended to know either.
His pose, as he leaned on the rock, had a muscular picturesque-ness. "Who be ye a-talkin' about?" he drawled. Peters relished his opportunity. He laughed in a distorted fashion, his pipe-stem held between his teeth. "You-uns ain't wantin' ter swop lies 'bout sech ez him, Luke! We war a-talkin' 'bout Tobe Gryce." The color flared into the new-comer's face. A sudden animation fired his eye.
"If you-uns can stand what we-uns has ter, w'y come right in and set you a cheer." If the man of the house has misgivings as to the state of the larder, he will say: "I'll ax the woman gin she can git ye a bite." Seldom does the wife demur, though sometimes her patience is sorely tried.
"Ain't I made it cl'ar from the start," cried Pop angrily, "thet I ain't a-goin' to be druv out? You-uns kin call me muley-headed or whatever you've a mind to. Sal's always stood by me, and by golly, I'm a-goin' to stand by Sal!" His raised voice roused the patient, and a feeble summons brought Miss Fletcher to the bedside. "Say," plead the girl faintly, "don't rile Pop.
Altogether, I should say, as Miss Jane once put it, that your aura is tinctured with savagery." Dale hesitated. "I don't reckon," he said at last, "that what I did this mawnin' war any wuss'n what you-uns war a-goin' ter do. What's aura?" Bob burst into peals of laughter. "I think he's got you on number one, Colonel! Now tell him what aura is!"
Miss Carmichael’s individual toilet service, which was neither handsome nor elaborate, impressed Eudora far more potently in ranking Mary as a personage than did her dignity of office as "gov’ment." "I reckon you-uns must have seen Sist’ Judy up to Miz Dax’s. I hope she war lookin’ right well." There was in the inquiry an unmistakable note of pride. The connection was plainly one to be flaunted.
There were not more than a dozen sailors on deck, and most of these appeared to be asleep. "Be these all the fellers you-uns hev got?" asked the man. "What's the use of having any more?" replied Archie. "There's no danger here." "That's so," was the answer; "I haint seed a rebel round for more 'n six months, dog-gone if I hev."
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