de
-stracted fur a deedie too. An’ he run all the way over hyar ter git me ter gin him one. But the deedies hed all gone ter bed, an’ the old hen war hoverin’ of ’em, an’ I didn’t want ter ’sturb ’em,” said Rufe considerately. “So I tole Pig-wigs ter meet me at the tanyard early, an’ I’d fetch him one. An’ ez his granny war goin’ visitin’ her merried daughter, she let him ride behind her on thar sorrel mare ez fur ez the tanyard. So he got hyar ’fore I did. An’ I kem an’ gin him the deedie.”
Rufe paused abruptly, as if, having narrated this important transaction, he had exhausted the interest of the subject.
Byers was about to speak, but the tanner with a gesture repressed him.
“Ye hain’t tole ’bout the pit an’ the grant yit, bubby,” he reminded the small boy.
Byers’s display of impatience was not lost upon Rufe, and it added to the general acrimony of their relations.
“Waal,” the small boy began alertly, “we-uns hed the deedie behind the smoke-house thar, an’ I seen
him
” - Rufe pointed at Byers with disfavor - ”a-comin’ powerful slow inter the tanyard, an’ I whispered ter Pig-wigs Griggs ter be quiet, an’ not let
him