'Ha! ha!' repeated the listening crowd, and 'Yah! yah!' echoed three or four well-dressed darkies, who were standing near the doorway: 'Sarved 'im right; he'm a mean ole cuss, he am;' chimed in one of the latter gentry, as he added another guffaw, and, swaying his body back and forth, brought his hands down on his thighs with a concussion which sent a thick cloud of tobacco smoke, of his own manufacture, circling to the other side of the room.
When the merriment had somewhat subsided, I stepped toward the assemblage, and inquired if the landlord were present. There was no reply for a few moments; then one of the embryo planters, speaking to a showily-dressed young man near him, remarked:
'Get up, and tend ter the stranger; ye arn't fit to tote vituals to a nigger.'
The young man rose very deliberately, and said:
'Yes, sir, I want, a room, and supper for two, at once.'
'Yes, sir, the stage is in. You'll oblige me by attending to us at once; we are hungry and tired.'
He looked at me for a moment without speaking, then leisurely walked out of the front door. Two or three of the loungers followed, but the young gentleman who had first spoken rose and politely tendered me a seat. Thanking him, I took the chair vacated by the bartender, and proceeded to warm my hands and limbs, which were thoroughly chilled by the long ride in the cold air.
'Cold, riding after nightfall, sir,' said the young man, who I now observed was the Mr. Gaston whom the trader had so unceremoniously ejected from the shooting ground.
'Yes, sir, it _is_ cold riding on the box.'
'And our rattle-down coaches are so mighty slow; you don't have such fixin's at the North.'
'No, sir; but why do you suppose I'm from the North? I've passed for a Southerner to-day.'
'Oh, I know you Yankees all to pieces; I've lived among you.'
'No, I didn't graduate, I _left_--left for my health. Ha! ha I' and he broke into a merry fit of laughter, in which several of his companions joined.
'Taken with sudden illness, as you were at the turkey-match, to-day?' I inquired good humoredly, and in a tone that could not give offence.
'Yes, the same disease, I swear. Ha! ha!'
'The stranger's inter ye, Gus--inter ye a feet! Come, ye must treat,' shouted the teller of the horse story.