{{huckfp350.jpg}}

cretur 'ts in his right mind 's agoin' to scrabble all them crazy things onto a

grindstone, s'l? Here sich 'n' sich a person busted his heart; 'n' here so 'n' so

pegged along for thirty-seven year, 'n' all that -- natcherl son o' Louis somebody,

V sich everlast'n rubbage. He's plumb crazy, s'l; it's what I says in the

fust place, it's what I says in the middle, 'n' it's what I says last 'n' all the time

-- the nigger's crazy -- crazy 's Nebokoodneezer, s'l."

"An' look at that-air ladder made

out'n rags, Sister Hotchkiss," says old ssssssssss

Mrs. Damrell, "what in the name o' ssssssssss

goodness could he ever want of" ssssssssss

"The very words I was a-sayin' no

longer ago th'n this minute to Sister ssssssssss

Utterback, 'n' she'll tell you so herself.

Sh-she, look at that-air rag ladder, ssssssssss

sh-she; 'n' s'l, yes, look at it, s'l -- ssssssssss

what could he a wanted of it, s'l. ssssssssss

Soh-she, Sister Hotchkiss, sh-she--" ssssssssss

"But how in the nation'd they

ever git that grindstone in there, any- ssssssssss

way r 'n' who dug that-air hole? 'n' who" ssssssssss

"My very words, Brer Penrod! I was a-sayin' -- pass that-air sasser o'

m'lasses, won't ye? -- I was a-sayin' to Sister Dunlap, jist this minute, how did

they git that grindstone in there, s'l. Without help, mind you -- 'thout help I

Thar's wher' 'tis. Don't tell me, s'l; there wuz help, s'l; 'n' ther' wuz aplenty

help, too, s'l; ther's ben a dozen a-helpin' that nigger, 'n' I lay I'd skin every

last nigger on this place, but Pd find out who done it, s'l; 'n' moreover, s'l"

"A dozen says you I -- forty couldn't a done everything that's been done.

Look at them case-knife saws and things, how tedious they've been made; look

at that bed-leg sawed off with 'm, a week's work for six men; look at that nigger

made out'n straw on the bed; and look at" ssssssssss

"You may well say it, Brer Hightower! It's jist as I was a-sayin' to Brer

Phelps, his own self. S'e, what do you think of it, Sister Hotchkiss, s'e? think

 [350]