So I told you I was expecting trouble myself and would scatter with you. That's the whole yarn- what's yourn?"
? ? ? ? "Well, I'd been a-runnin'a little temperance revival thar, 'bout a week, and was the pet of the women-folks, big and little, for I was makin' it mighty warm for the rummies, I tell you, and takin' as much as five or six dollars a night- ten cents a head, children and niggers free- and business a growin' all the time; when somehow or another a little report got around, last night, that I had a way of puttin'in my time with a private jug, on the sly. A nigger rousted me out this mornin', and told me the people was getherin' on the quiet, with their dogs and horses, and they'd be along pretty soon and give me 'bout half an hour's start, and then run me down, if they could; and if they got me they'd tar and feather me and ride me on a rail, sure. I didn't wait for no breakfast- I warn't hungry."
? ? ? ? "Old man," says the young one, "I reckon we might double-team it together; what do you think?"
? ? ? ? "I ain't undisposed. What's your line- mainly?"
? ? ? ? "Jour printer, by trade; do a little in patent medicines; theatre-actor- tragedy, you know; take a turn at mesmerism and phrenology when there's a chance; teach singing-geography school for a change; sling a lecture, sometimes- oh, I do lots of things- most anything that comes handy, so it ain't work.
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