"And don't begin at the book o' Genesis 'n' go clean through the Bible,
's you gen'ally do. Start right in on Revelations, where you belong,"
put in Samantha; for to see a man unexpectedly loaded to the muzzle with
news, and too lazy to fire it off, was enough to try the patience of a
saint; and even David Milliken would hardly have applied that term to
Samantha Ann Ripley.

"Give a feller time to think, will yer?" expostulated Jabe, with his
mouth full of pie. "Everything comes to him as waits 'd be an awful good
motto for you! Where'd I see 'em? Why, I fetched 'em as fur as the
cross-roads myself."

"Well, I never!" "I want to know!" cried the two women in one breath.

"I picked 'em up out on the road, a little piece this side o' the
station. 'T was at the top o' Marm Berry's hill, that's jest where 't
was. The boy was trudgin' along draggin' the baby 'n' the basket, 'n' I
thought I'd give him a lift, so s' I, 'Goin' t' the Swamp or t' the
Falls?' s' I. 'To the Falls,' s' 'e. 'Git in,' s' I, ''n' I'll give yer
a ride, 'f y' ain't in no hurry,' s' I. So in he got, 'n' the baby tew.
When I got putty near home, I happened ter think I'd oughter gone roun'
by the tan'ry 'n' picked up the Widder Foss, 'n' so s' I, 'I ain't goin'
no nearer to the Falls; but I guess your laigs is good for the balance
o' the way, ain't they?' s' I. 'I guess they be!' s' 'e. Then he thanked
me 's perlite's Deacon Sawyer's first wife, 'n' I left him 'n' his folks
in the road where I found 'em."

"Didn't you ask where he belonged nor where he was bound?"