"
"I deny it all--I deny it. It's not true, young man. It's not true, my
friends; don't believe a word of it. Now, Munro, how can you speak so?
Hob--Hob--Hob--I say--where the devil are you? Hob--say, you rascal, was
I within five miles of the Catcheta pass to-day?" The negro, a black of
the sootiest complexion, now advanced:--
"No, maussa."
"Was I yesterday?"
The negro put his finger to his forehead, and the lawyer began to fret
at this indication of thought, and, as it promised to continue,
exclaimed--
"Speak, you rascal, speak out; you know well enough without reflecting."
The slave cautiously responded--
"If maussa want to be dere, maussa dere--no 'casion for ax Hob."
"You black rascal, you know well enough I was not there--that I was not
within five miles of the spot, either to-day, yesterday, or for ten days
back!"
"Berry true, maussa; if you no dere, you no dere. Hob nebber say one
ting when maussa say 'noder."
The unfortunate counsellor, desperate with the deference of his
body-servant, now absolutely perspired with rage; while, to the infinite
amusement of all, in an endeavor to strike the pliable witness, who
adroitly dodged the blow, the lawyer, not over-active of frame, plunged
incontinently forward, and paused not in his headlong determination
until he measured himself at length upon the ground.
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