“Drap dat shovel, Hitch!” Pipe Smash grinned. “Coal costs a heap money an’ you don’t want to waste it goin’ down-stream. De time to shovel ain’t yit.”
“Dat’s right,” Hitch agreed. “It ’pears to me like we is all got a snap. I shore feels comferble.”
“I got a easy job, too!” Vinegar proclaimed. “’Tain’t no real trouble to set down an’ wait fer a corp’.”
“All you niggers, come here!” Pipe Smash exclaimed. “I wants to press somepin’ powerful heavy on yo’ minds, an’ ef you fergits it offen yo’ minds, I tells you right now dat Revun Atts won’t wait long to git a fust-rate corp’.”
“Whut’s dat?” Skeeter chattered.
“You see dat contraption up on dat engine whut looks like a clock?” Pipe Smash asked.
“Yes, suh!”
“Dat is called de steam-gage. Dat shows how much steam is in de b’ilers. Now dis engine won’t tote but sixty pounds of steam an’ be plum’ safe—you see dat indicator p’ints to sixty now.”
“Dat’s right!” Hitch Diamond corroborated.
“Whut do us do ef we git over sixty?” Skeeter asked tremblingly.