Suiting the action to the word, Mr. Wimberly picked up a glowing coal of fire, dropped it in the palm of his hand, whirled it around rapidly, and then neatly transferred it to the bowl of his pipe, where it lay glowing.
“The little nigger picked up the coal that way,” Mr. Wimberly continued, “an’ then he started out. Ole Man Know-all hollered at ’im.
“‘Hol’ on!’ sezee; ’how you gwine ter kindle a fire from jest one coal?’
“‘Easy enough,’ sez the little nigger.
“Ole Man Know-all jumped up an’ follered ’im, an’ when the little nigger come ter his mammy’s house he got two fat pine splinters, picked up the coal er fire wi’ ’em jest ez ef they’d ’a’ been tongs, whirled it once-t er twice-t aroun’ his head, an’ thar wuz the blaze.
“‘Well,’ sez Ole Man Know-all, ‘I’m mighty glad Grandsir Death gimme the go-by last night, ’cause I’ve larnt sump’n new. An’ I reckon, ef I keep my eyes open, I can larn lots more.’ Jesso!”
“I’ve saw folks that thought they know’d it all,” said Mr. Pruitt, “an’ it most inginer’lly happens that all what they know wouldn’t make the linin’ fer a bug’s nest.”
There was some further talk, in which Joe Maxwell joined, or thought he did, and then the cabin and all its occupants seemed to fade before his eyes. He seemed, as in a dream, to hear Mr. Pruitt say that he wished to the Lord that his little boy was as healthy and as well fed as the boy from town, and Joe thought he heard the deserter telling his companions of the desperate condition in which he found his wife and two little children, who were living in a house remote from any settlement. The lad, much interested in this recital, opened his eyes to ask Mr. Pruitt some of the particulars, and, lo! it was morning. The fire was out, and the deserters and negroes had disappeared. In the east the sky glowed with the promise of the sun, the birds were singing in the old apple-trees, and the cows were lowing. In the distance Joe could hear the plow-hands singing as they rode to their tasks, and, when the sound of their song had died away, he thought he could hear, ever so faintly, the voice of Harbert calling his hogs.
Mink had told Joe where he was, and how to get home, and he had no difficulty in finding his way.