fer gittin' the lan' so cheap. Well,
brother, the furriner come up to Tom's
an' got Tom into one o' them new-
fangled trades whut the furriners calls a
option--t'other feller kin git out'n hit,
but you can't. The furriner 'lowed he'd
send his podner up thar next day to
put the thing in writin' an' close up the
trade. Hit looked like ole Tom was
ketched fer shore, an' ef Tom didn't
ra'r, I'd tell a man. He jes let that hoe-
handle drap on Abe fer 'bout haffen
hour, jes to give him time to study, an'
next day thar was ole Tom a-settin'
on his orchard fence a-lookin' mighty
unknowin', when the furriner's podner
come a-prancin' up an' axed ef old Tom
Perkins lived thar.

Ole Tom jes whispers.

Now, I clean fergot to tell ye, stranger,
that Abe Shivers nuver could talk out
loud. He tol' so many lies that the
Lawd--jes to make things even--sorter
fixed Abe, I reckon, so he couldn't lie
on more'n one side o' the river at a
time. Ole Tom jes knowed t'other
furriner had tol' this un 'bout Abe, an,'
shore 'nough, the feller says, sorter soft,