jest show me any other man in this city could have thought it out! I'd
like to be showed jest one, that's all, jest one! Now, you look here;
you see that nigger shanty over there, with the smallpox lanterns
outside?"

The policeman shivered slightly. "Yes."

"Look here; they're rebuildin' the pest-house, ain't they?"

"Yes."

"Leavin' smallpox patients in their own holes under quarantine guard
till they git a place to put 'em, ain't they?"

"Yes."

"You know how many niggers in that shack?"

"Four, ain't they?"

"Yessir, four of 'em. One died to-night, another's goin' to, another
ain't tellin' which way he's goin' yit; and the last one, Joe
Cribbins, was the first to take it; and he's almost plumb as good as
ever ag'in. He's up and around the house, helpin' nurse the sick ones,
and fit fer hard labour. Now look here; that nigger does what I
_tell_ him and he does it quick--see? Well, he knows what I want
him to do to-night. So does Charley Gruder, the guard over
there. Charley's fixed; I seen to that; and he knows he ain't goin' to
lose no job fer the nigger's gittin' out of the back winder to go make
a little sociable call this evening."