"It's my opinion, sah, that Raintree had that night
more than his usual allowance of corn-juice on board; and it's only
a wonder, sah, that he didn't see a few pink alligators and sky-blue
snakes at the same time. But what's this got to do with that wanderin'
tramp?"
"They're all the same thing, colonel, and in my opinion that there tramp
ain't no more alive than that figger was."
"But YOU were the one that saw this tramp with your own eyes," retorted
the colonel quickly, "and you never before allowed it was a spirit!"
"Exactly! I saw it whar a minit afore nothin' had been standin', and a
minit after nothin' stood," said Larry Hawkins, with a certain serious
emphasis; "but I warn't goin' to say it to ANYBODY, and I warn't goin'
to give you and the hacienda away. And ez nobody knew Raintree's story,
I jest shut up my head. But you kin bet your life that the man I saw
warn't no livin' man!"
"We'll see, sah!" said the colonel, rising from his chair with his
fingers in the armholes of his nankeen waistcoat, "ef he ever intrudes
on my property again.
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