through; and arter that, the first shot is the one that's
aimed at the bird), 'to explain to you about this African
Slave Treaty,' said he. 'Your government don't seem to
comprehend me in reference to this Right of Sarch.
Lookin' a man in the face, to see he is the right man,
and sarchin' his pockets, are two very different things.
You take, don't you?'

"'I'm up to snuff, Sir,' sais I, 'and no mistake.' I
know'd well enough that warn't what he sent for me for,
by the way he humm'd and hawed when he began.

"'Taking up a trunk, as every hotel-keeper does and has
a right to do, and examinin' the name on the brass plate
to the eend on't, is one thing; forcin' the lock and
ransackin' the contents, is another. One is precaution,
the other is burglary.'

"'It tante burglary,' sais I, 'unless the lodger sleeps
in his trunk. It's only--'

"'Well,' says he, a colourin' up, 'that's technical. I
leave these matters to my law officers.'

"I larnt that little matter of law from brother Eldad,
the lawyer, but I guess I was wrong there. I don't think
I had ought to have given him that sly poke; but I didn't
like his talkin' that way to me. Whenever a feller tries
to pull the wool over your eyes, it's a sign he don't
think high of your onderstandin'. It isn't complimental,