"
"And he did not talk back?"
"No, suh; on'y laughed."
"Sneeringly, and in a way that sounded like 'Yo' 're another'?"
The colonel could not remember that it was.
Yancey ruminated, and Fitz now took a hand.
"On the contrary, Major Yancey, Mr. Klutchem's laugh was a very jolly
laugh; and, under the circumstances, a laugh very creditable to his
good nature. You are young and impetuous, but I know my learned friend,
Judge Kerfoot, will agree with me"--here Yancey patted his toy balloon
complacently, and the judge leaned forward with rapt attention--"when
I say that if any apologies are in order they should not come from Mr.
Klutchem."
It was delicious to note how easily Fitz fell into the oratorical
method of his hearers.
"Here is a man immersed in stocks, and totally ignorant of the boundless
resources of your State, who limits the freight of our road to four
staples,--peanuts, hogs, sweet potatoes, and niggers. As a further
exhibition of his ignorance he estimates the value of a large block
of our securities as far below the price set upon a light, tan-colored
canine, a very inexpensive animal; or, as he puts it, and perhaps too
coarsely,--a yellow dog.
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