"There they are, in full blast," he muttered, "over a gallon of whiskey,
and gulping it down as if 'twas nothing better than common water. But,
what's the great fuss to-night? There's a crowd, I reckon, and they're a
running their rigs on somebody."
Even Forrester was at a loss to account for their excess of hilarity
to-night. Though fond of drink, and meeting often in a crowd, they were
few of them of a class--using his own phrase--"to give so much tongue
over their liquors." The old toper and vagabond is usually a silent
drinker. His amusements, when in a circle, and with a bottle before him,
are found in cards and dice. His cares, at such a period, are too
considerate to suffer him to be noisy. Here, in Chestatee, Forrester
well knew that a crowd implied little good-fellowship. The ties which
brought the gold-seekers and squatters together were not of a sort to
produce cheerfulness and merriment. Their very sports were savage, and
implied a sort of fun which commonly gave pain to somebody.
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