"I don't happen to know Tom Lobkill, and I don't know whether I have seen him or not."
"Don't you know Tom Lobkill? I thought every man in Tennessee knew Tom."
"That may be; but as I never put foot in Tennessee yet, I never happened to meet him," replied Deck.
"I reckon this is Kentucky," added Kipps, with a mild horse-laugh. "You see, we fellers that work on the railroad don't allers mind jest what State we're in, for we keep shiftin' from one to another all the time."
"But I think you don't have to do much shifting between Kentucky and Tennessee at the present time," suggested Deck.
"Not as much as we did a while ago. If you hain't seen Tom Lobkill, did you come across Lank Rablan in your travels on the road?" asked Kipps, as he rose from his seat, and walked to the end of the fence, though he still remained behind it.
"I don't know him any better than I do the other fellow, and I haven't seen him. You seem to have a good many friends about here, Brown Kipps."
"Not a great crowd; there ain't but four on us, and t'other is Sykes Wimble. I s'pose you hain't seen nothin' o' him, nuther?"
"I don't know him," replied Deck, more curious yet to know what the man was driving at. "What are you four doing about here?"
"We are on the railroad."