"Well, then, Master Colleton, as I was saying, 'twas at this same muster
that I first saw the 'squire. He was a monstrous clever old buck now, I
tell you. Why, he thought no more of money than if it growed in his
plantation--he almost throwed it away for the people to scramble after.
That very day, when the muster was over, he called all the boys up to
Eben Garratt's tavern, and told old Eben to set the right stuff afloat,
and put the whole score down to him. Maybe old Eben didn't take him at
his word. Eben was a cunning chap, quite Yankee-like, and would skin his
shadow for a saddle-back, I reckon, if he could catch it. I tell you
what, when the crop went to town, the old 'squire must have had a mighty
smart chance to pay; for, whatever people might say of old Eben, he knew
how to calculate from your pocket into his with monstrous sartainty.
Well, as I was saying, 'squire, I shouldn't be afraid to go you a a
little bet that old Ralph Colleton is some kin of your'n. You're both of
the same stock, I reckon.
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