"Well, as to my ole woman, of course I can't help mournin', cause any how she was always a better wife than a no 'count feller like me deserves to have. But you see it wan't unexpected, like. We'd both on us seed it a comin' for a year or two, an' always comin' a little nigher, so it didn't seem so onnateral like as it would ef she'd been strong an' healthy an' laughin' like, as she used to be before I went away to prison."
With that the man buried his face in his hands and sobbed. After all, the well-to-do, the refined, the cultivated people of this world have no monopoly of love or of tender sensibilities.
Tom took the man's hand and pressed it warmly. Then by way of turning the conversation he said:
"I suppose you're wondering what I am doing up here in the high mountains?"
"Well, yes—it's risky of you, like. You see, I've done all the talkin' I could to persuade our people, like, that you fellers ain't here to interfere with 'em, an' lately they've let you alone. But still it ain't safe fer you, an' my earnest advice to you still is to git down out'n these mountings. I'm agoin' to keep on a talkin' in your favor an' a doin' all I kin fer to make it safe fer you to stay, but it won't never be real safe. You see, there's them up here in the high mountings what's suspicious like. They don't want to take no risks. They're always a lookin' out fer tricks, an' they won't believe but what you fellers mout be up to some trick. Anyhow they say 'men that ain't up in the mountings can't tell what's a goin' on up in the mountings,' an' some of 'em says, says they, 'men that's dead don't tell nothin' to the revenue officers.'"
"Nevertheless we're not going to be driven out, as you know," said Tom. "So now let's get to business."
"All right, Tom. Ef there's anythin' in this world I kin do fer you without hangin' fer it, I'll do it."
"Well," said Tom, "I came up here at risk of my life to look for you. I thought I might find your cabin or more probably find you standing guard over some still somewhere, and so I've been looking out for stills."
"Now, that's curious," said the man, "very curious. Fer that's edzactly what you found me a doin'. You see, they's a still near here an' it's about as snugly tucked away as any still ever was in all these mountings. You'd never find it in the world, though you ain't at this minute more'n two hundred yards away from it. Still the folks what runs it don't feel overly safe in spite of their hidin' of the still. So they've give me a job like to climb about over the cliffs an' look out fer spies. That's how I come to find you, Tom."
"Well, I'm glad you did find me," said Tom, "for in all probability I never should have found you, and I stood a good chance of getting myself shot in trying. You said just now that you would do anything you could for me."