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Youve got a friend here? said Haley, looking doubtfully at Marks; partner, perhaps? Yes, I have. Here, Marks! heres that ar feller that I was in with in Natchez. Shall be pleased with his acquaintance, said Marks, thrusting out a long, thin hand, like a ravens claw. Mr. Haley, I believe? The same, sir, said Haley. And now, gentlemen, seein as weve met so happily, I think Ill stand up to a small matter of a treat in this here parlor. So, now, old coon, said he to the man at the bar, get us hot water, and sugar, and cigars, and plenty of the real stuff and well have a blow-out. Behold, then, the candles lighted, the fire stimulated to the burning point in the grate, and our three worthies seated round a table, well spread with all the accessories to good fellowship enumerated before. Haley began a pathetic recital of his peculiar troubles. Loker shut up his mouth, and listened to him with gruff and surly attention. Marks, who was anxiously and with much fidgeting compounding a tumbler of punch to his own peculiar taste, occasionally looked up from his employment, and, poking his sharp nose and chin almost into Haleys face, gave the most earnest heed to the whole narrative. The conclusion of it appeared to amuse him extremely, for he shook his shoulders and sides in silence, and perked up his thin lips with an air of great internal enjoyment. So, then, yer fairly sewed up, ant ye? he said; he! he! he! Its neatly done, too. This yer young-un business makes lots of trouble in the trade, said Haley, dolefully. If we could get a breed of gals that didnt care, now, for their young uns, said Marks; tell ye, I think t would be bout the greatest modrn improvement I knows on,and Marks patronized his joke by a quiet introductory sniggle. Jes so, said Haley; I never couldnt see into it; young uns is heaps of trouble to em; one would think, now, theyd be glad to get clar on em; but they arnt. And the more trouble a young un is, and the more good for nothing, as a genl thing, the tighter they sticks to em. Wal, Mr. Haley, said Marks, est pass the hot water. Yes, sir, you say est what I feel and allus have. Now, I bought a gal once, when I was in the trade,a tight, likely wench she was, too, and quite considerable smart,and she had a young un that was misable sickly; it had a crooked back, or something or other; and I jest gin t away to a man that thought hed take his chance raising on t, being it didnt cost nothin;never thought, yer know, of the gals taking on about it,but, Lord, yer oughter seen how she went on. Why, relly, she did seem to me to valley the child more cause t was sickly and cross, and plagued her; and she warnt making blieve, neither,cried about it, she did, and lopped round, as if shed lost every friend she had. It relly was droll to think on t. Lord, there aint no end to womens notions. Wal, jest so with me, said Haley. Last summer, down on Red river, I got a gal traded off on me, with a likely lookin child enough, and his eyes looked as bright as yourn; but, come to look, I found him stone blind. Facthe was stone blind. Wal, ye see, I thought there warnt no harm in my jest passing him along, and not sayin nothin; and Id got him nicely swapped off for a keg o whiskey; but come to get him away from the gal, she was jest like a tiger. So t was before we started, and I hadnt got my gang chained up; so what should she do but ups on a cotton-bale, like a cat, ketches a knife from one of the deck hands, and, I tell ye, she made all fly for a minit, till she saw t want no use; and she jest turns round, and pitches head first, young un and all, into the river,went down plump, and never ris. Bah! said Tom Loker, who had listened to these stories with ill-repressed disgust,shifless, both on ye! my gals dont cut up no such shines, I tell ye! Indeed! how do you help it? said Marks, briskly. |
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