Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/171

Rh "Why did both of them go?"

"Laws-a-mussy, Mr. Phup! I cyarn't trus' them ter go all by theyselves. They's good enough boys on the whole, but they's better when they's got one another ter spy on them."

"And Jim Strong? Where is he?"

"He's a seekin' an' th'ain't no wuck in him till he comes through or don't come through. My Sukey done tol' him time an' agin ter wait till Big Meetin' time, but the notion tuck him an' he went ter seekin' las' week. He ain't never gonter come through. I done seed him try too many times ter take no stock in that nigger's ever landin' in the mo'ners' bench. I tell you, Mr. Phup, he got too big er mouth ever to go through the appinted time 'thout ever bus'in' out larfin'. I done seed him go up till the very las' hour an' then sompen done tickle him an' he open up he big mouth an' holler an' larf hisself back in ter sin."

Philip laughed outright. He remembered of old the desperate "seeking" of the grinning Jim Strong and the impossibility of his "coming through" because of the fact that laugh he just and one laugh while "seeking" put one out of the running.

"Well, you tell Jim to report to me, and I will give him some ploughing to do to keep him