by some home-gyard, I reckon. Well,
nobody air ever turned out'n doors in
these mountains, as you know, an' Abe
got his rights that mawin', an' he's been
a-gittin' 'em ever sence. Tom already
had a houseful, but 'f any feller got the
bigges' hunk o' corn-bread, that feller was
Abe; an' ef any feller got a-whalin',
hit wasn't Abe.

``Abe tuk to lyin' right naturely--
looked like--afore he could talk. Fact
is, Abe nuver could do nothin' but jes
whisper. Still, Abe could manage to
send a lie furder with that rattlin'
whisper than ole Tom could with
that big horn o' hisn what tells the
boys the revenoos air comin' up Fryin'
Pan.'

``Didn't take Abe long to git to braggin'
an' drinkin' an' naggin' an' hectorin'
--everything, 'mos', 'cept fightin'. Nobody
ever drawed Abe Shivers into a
fight. I don't know as he was afeerd;
looked like Abe was a-havin' sech a
tarnation good time with his devilmint he
jes didn't want to run no risk o' havin'
hit stopped. An' sech devilmint! Hit
ud take a coon's age, I reckon, to tell