A benign Providence has fixed me
plenty strong. Wherefore, if either of you sports should tap me for
a handful of hundreds, them veins of mine will stand the drain. Dan,
it's your deal.'"
CHAPTER VIII
The Treachery of Curly Ben
"ere! you black boy, Tom!" and the Old Cattleman's voice rose
loudly as he commanded the approach of that buoyant servitor, who
supervised his master's destinies, and performed in the triangular
role of valet, guardian and friend. "Yere, you; go to the barkeep of
this tavern an' tell him to frame me up a pitcher of that peach
brandy an' honey the way I shows him how. An' when he's got her
organized, bring it out to us with two glasses by the fire. You-all
ain't filin' no objections to a drink, be you?" This last was to me.
"As for me, personal," he continued, "you can put down a bet I'm as
dry as a covered bridge." I readily assented to peach and honey. I
would agree to raw whiskey if it were needed to appease him and
permit me to remain in his graces.
"Thar's one thing, one redeemin' thing I might say, about the East,"
he went on, when the peach and honey appeared, "an' the same claims
my respects entire; that's its nose-paint. Which we shorely suffers
in the Southwest from beverages of the most ornery kind.
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