He took Abe's hand and went on: "Here, ye lovers of romance, is one of
the story-tellers of Ispahan who has in him the wisdom of the wandering
tribes. He can tell you a tale that will draw children from their play
and old men from the chimney corner. My boy, take a chair next to Mr.
Traylor."

He took the hand of the Doctor and added: "Here, too, is a man whose wit
is more famous than his pills--one produces the shakes and the other
cures them. Doctor, you and I will take the end seats."

"My pills can be relied upon but my wit is like my dog, away from home
most of the time," said the Doctor.

"Gathering the bones with which you often astonish us," said Kelso. "How
are the lungs, Doctor?"

"They're all right. These long rides in the open are making a new man of
me. Another year in the city would have used me up."

"Mr. Traylor, you stand up as proud and firm as a big pine," Kelso
remarked. "I believe you're a Yankee."

"So do I," said Samson. "If you took all the Yankee out o' me I'd have an
empty skin."

Then Abe began to show the stranger his peculiar art in these words:

"Stephen Nuckles used to say: 'God's grace embraces the isles o' the sea
an' the uttermost parts o' the earth. It takes in the Esquimaux an' the
Hottentots. Some go so fur as to say that it takes in the Yankees but I