登陆注册
5253000000028

第28章

"Wal, Mr. Haley," said Marks, "'est pass the hot water.

Yes, sir, you say 'est what I feel and all'us have. Now, I bought a gal once, when I was in the trade,--a tight, likely wench she was, too, and quite considerable smart,--and she had a young un that was mis'able sickly; it had a crooked back, or something or other; and I jest gin 't away to a man that thought he'd take his chance raising on 't, being it didn't cost nothin';--never thought, yer know, of the gal's taking' on about it,--but, Lord, yer oughter seen how she went on. Why, re'lly, she did seem to me to valley the child more 'cause _'t was_ sickly and cross, and plagued her; and she warn't making b'lieve, neither,--cried about it, she did, and lopped round, as if she'd lost every friend she had. It re'lly was droll to think on 't. Lord, there ain't no end to women's notions."

"Wal, jest so with me," said Haley. "Last summer, down on Red river, I got a gal traded off on me, with a likely lookin' child enough, and his eyes looked as bright as yourn; but, come to look, I found him stone blind. Fact--he was stone blind. Wal, ye see, I thought there warn't no harm in my jest passing him along, and not sayin' nothin'; and I'd got him nicely swapped off for a keg o' whiskey; but come to get him away from the gal, she was jest like a tiger. So 't was before we started, and I hadn't got my gang chained up; so what should she do but ups on a cotton-bale, like a cat, ketches a knife from one of the deck hands, and, I tell ye, she made all fly for a minit, till she saw 't wan't no use; and she jest turns round, and pitches head first, young un and all, into the river,--went down plump, and never ris."

"Bah!" said Tom Loker, who had listened to these stories with ill-repressed disgust,--"shif'less, both on ye! _my_ gals don't cut up no such shines, I tell ye!"

"Indeed! how do you help it?" said Marks, briskly.

"Help it? why, I buys a gal, and if she's got a young un to be sold, I jest walks up and puts my fist to her face, and says, `Look here, now, if you give me one word out of your head, I'll smash yer face in. I won't hear one word--not the beginning of a word.' I says to 'em, `This yer young un's mine, and not yourn, and you've no kind o' business with it. I'm going to sell it, first chance; mind, you don't cut up none o' yer shines about it, or I'll make ye wish ye'd never been born.' I tell ye, they sees it an't no play, when I gets hold. I makes 'em as whist as fishes; and if one on 'em begins and gives a yelp, why,--" and Mr. Loker brought down his fist with a thump that fully explained the hiatus.

"That ar's what ye may call _emphasis_," said Marks, poking Haley in the side, and going into another small giggle. "An't Tom peculiar? he! he! I say, Tom, I s'pect you make 'em _understand_, for all niggers' heads is woolly. They don't never have no doubt o' your meaning, Tom. If you an't the devil, Tom, you 's his twin brother, I'll say that for ye!"

Tom received the compliment with becoming modesty, and began to look as affable as was consistent, as John Bunyan says, "with his doggish nature."

Haley, who had been imbibing very freely of the staple of the evening, began to feel a sensible elevation and enlargement of his moral faculties,--a phenomenon not unusual with gentlemen of a serious and reflective turn, under similar circumstances.

"Wal, now, Tom," he said, "ye re'lly is too bad, as I al'ays have told ye; ye know, Tom, you and I used to talk over these yer matters down in Natchez, and I used to prove to ye that we made full as much, and was as well off for this yer world, by treatin' on 'em well, besides keepin' a better chance for comin' in the kingdom at last, when wust comes to wust, and thar an't nothing else left to get, ye know."

"Boh!" said Tom, "_don't_ I know?--don't make me too sick with any yer stuff,--my stomach is a leetle riled now;" and Tom drank half a glass of raw brandy.

"I say," said Haley, and leaning back in his chair and gesturing impressively, "I'll say this now, I al'ays meant to drive my trade so as to make money on 't _fust and foremost_, as much as any man; but, then, trade an't everything, and money an't everything, 'cause we 's all got souls. I don't care, now, who hears me say it,--and I think a cussed sight on it,--so I may as well come out with it. I b'lieve in religion, and one of these days, when I've got matters tight and snug, I calculates to tend to my soul and them ar matters; and so what's the use of doin' any more wickedness than 's re'lly necessary?--it don't seem to me it's 't all prudent."

"Tend to yer soul!" repeated Tom, contemptuously; "take a bright lookout to find a soul in you,--save yourself any care on that score. If the devil sifts you through a hair sieve, he won't find one."

"Why, Tom, you're cross," said Haley; "why can't ye take it pleasant, now, when a feller's talking for your good?"

"Stop that ar jaw o' yourn, there," said Tom, gruffly. "I can stand most any talk o' yourn but your pious talk,--that kills me right up. After all, what's the odds between me and you? 'Tan't that you care one bit more, or have a bit more feelin'--it's clean, sheer, dog meanness, wanting to cheat the devil and save your own skin; don't I see through it? And your `gettin' religion,' as you call it, arter all, is too p'isin mean for any crittur;--run up a bill with the devil all your life, and then sneak out when pay time comes! Bob!"

"Come, come, gentlemen, I say; this isn't business," said Marks.

"There's different ways, you know, of looking at all subjects.

Mr. Haley is a very nice man, no doubt, and has his own conscience; and, Tom, you have your ways, and very good ones, too, Tom; but quarrelling, you know, won't answer no kind of purpose.

Let's go to business. Now, Mr. Haley, what is it?--you want us to undertake to catch this yer gal?"

"The gal's no matter of mine,--she's Shelby's; it's only the boy. I was a fool for buying the monkey!"

"You're generally a fool!" said Tom, gruffly.

同类推荐
  • Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm

    Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 寒食山馆书情

    寒食山馆书情

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Captivity and Restoration

    Captivity and Restoration

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • THE TALISMAN

    THE TALISMAN

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 体仁要术

    体仁要术

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 宠妻过急:总裁,别乱来!

    宠妻过急:总裁,别乱来!

    时隔六年,两人再次重逢,他却忘记她是谁,“小姐,这是你引起我注意的新套路吗?”她一次又一次的逃离,躲避,他一次又一次的追,“既然招惹了我,就别想从我身边离开,除非我放手。”忽然,一个小男孩冒了出来“蓝薇薇,你竟然敢背着我找男人?”“你是谁?”一大一小大眼瞪小眼,互看不顺眼,“我是她……儿子。”明明是敌人,却因为一个游戏,一大一小成为了最佳搭档“老男人,你帮我打上王者,我把蓝薇薇嫁给你。”一个王者,她就这样被彻底的卖了。
  • 贵州白族史略

    贵州白族史略

    白族是我国的一个古老民族,在长期的发展演进中,白族与西南地区各兄弟民族互相接触和影响,互相渗透、联合和融合,大家在地缘与血缘上,在政~治、经济、历史文化等方面有着密不可分的联系,一起为祖国的统一与发展作出了贡献。
  • 浮生未歇情难断

    浮生未歇情难断

    陌浅雪,一个十指不沾阳春水的‘三好少女’,那年她运气不错,赌气出走还被车撞了穿了个越,到了这九重天上。“墨涟寒!说好的不欺负我呢!你不是宠妻无下限吗?你现在欺负老娘是哪门子意思?!亏你还是魔界的老大!”某女用剑指着面前笑的没心没肺的美男子,心里很是气愤。某男突然质问道:“嗯?桃花债惹这么多的是谁?”“那证明我魅力无限。”“那私自勾引男倌的是谁?”“那证明他定力不够。”“那把本尊睡了撇下走人的是谁?”某女一见情况不对,讪讪道:“那让你再睡一次,我们两清了。”于是乎,第二天魔尊为了找一个花神而撇下魔界不管的事人尽皆知,某女只好乖乖跟着他回去成亲,一脸忧伤,她这辈子栽在他的身上了…:
  • 佛说法律三昧经

    佛说法律三昧经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 神偷驾到:盛宠极品五王妃

    神偷驾到:盛宠极品五王妃

    她,秦央,是江湖上无人不知的神偷。什么东西名贵,什么玩意稀奇,她都要偷上一偷,且还从未失过手!是以,她十九年来活得很潇洒很傲气。听闻宁国五王爷宁宸的那柄玄青剑制作上乘,曾随他出入战场,出生入死,战无不胜。这剑对于宁宸来说,十分珍贵。想他活到二十几都不曾纳娶王妃,人说,五王爷是娶了他那柄玄青剑。秦央为了盗得此宝剑,在他王府上扮作丫环潜伏半年之久,终于到手!所以说,当一个神偷必要的素养是要有耐心,要演技好,还要会易容。秦央将神偷当得很神秘。但是被盗了心爱之剑的五王爷怒不可遏!你想想若有人抢了你夫人,你不发怒?!他说:“抓了这小偷,剑留下,人必须死。”
  • 超人之前传

    超人之前传

    1989年10月,美国堪萨斯州斯莫维尔小镇,此时小镇上洋溢着一片欢快的气氛,人们纷纷为了庆祝秋季的丰收而举行着收获祭。叮咚清脆的门铃声忽然响起,花店的店门被缓缓的推开……
  • 面纱与革命

    面纱与革命

    深夜,怀孕少妇梦中惊醒被抓,罪名是捅死了自己丈夫,尸体却在几个街区之外,原告是丈夫的母亲和妹妹;当夜入狱即被判处死刑,既无法官也无律师,也不允许给外界打电话,更不能外出调查取证,认不认罪结果都一样,抗议上诉丝毫无效;刑场就在牢房外的院子里,处决囚犯的枪声也声声入耳!刑讯逼供、大病一场之后,全凭推理,找出了真凶,准确推断出证据藏匿之所……
  • 致富手册

    致富手册

    我们的时代是一个信息的时代。谁拥有信息,谁就拥有资源,就拥有机会。在信息就是机会的市场经济条件下,谁拥有信息,谁就具备更强的竞争力,就能够在市场中争取……茫茫商海,孕育着无限的商机,而商机来自信息。每一个搏击商海的人都应以敏锐的眼光,深遂的洞察力,捕捉瞬息而逝的市场信息,从而抓住机会,开创事业。
  • 总有一天我们都会老去

    总有一天我们都会老去

    一个出苦大力以求草间存活的女子,在浮躁的多伦多过着浮躁的生活。在城市中寻找一个不再流浪的归宿,一场如游戏般的邂逅,两段难于举棋的交融。苦等一句曾经爱过,却换来是永不相见。爱是一种让你享受欢愉和痛苦的过程。
  • 王者荣耀之超级系统

    王者荣耀之超级系统

    王者荣耀是当今红红火火的一款手游,游戏解说韩雨熙却在某次游戏中意外得到了一个系统,可以召唤出各种王者荣耀的人物,困困的庄周,萌萌的蔡文姬,帅气的李白哥哥,端庄的王昭君姐姐……还认识到了各种大佬有没有!!!