"Because—I made a mistake. It was there I got my Bible. A lady gave it me. It's good in prison, don't you know that, brother?"
"It can't be. What is there good in it?"
"They teach one there. You see how I was taught to read. They gave me a book, and all that free!"
When the schoolmaster came to the doss-house, Tiapa had been there already a long time. He watched the schoolmaster constantly; he would bend his body on one side in order to get a good look at him, and would listen attentively to his conversation.
Once he began, "Well, I see you are a learned man. Have you ever read the Bible?"
"Yes, I have."
"Well, do you remember it?"
"I do! What then?"
The old man bent his whole body on one side and looked at the schoolmaster with grey, morose, distrustful eyes.
"And do you remember anything about the Amalekites?"