"Well, then, what can you do for me?"
"Nothin'," the grin broadening.
"Then, sir, what is your business here?" asked Abner, beginning to lose patience.
"I came to tell you that I was—here," said the mulatto, with provoking coolness.
"Well, what do you propose, now that you are here?" asked Abner, smiling in spite of himself.
"Your name is Tompkins—you are Captain Abner Tompkins?" said the mulatto.
"Yes."
"You have a brother Oleah, who is a captain in the Confederate army, that is right across the hill here?"
"Yes. What of him?"