The Judge turned upon him. "Will you please keep quiet? I am striving to deal kindly with you, and I hope you will not lose sight of that fact." He spoke to Mose: "How far do you live from Mr. Starbuck's place?"
"W—w—w—well, you can't tell h—h—how far it is, the r—r—road's so crooked."
"Captain," said the Judge, "this boy should not have been brought down here. Let him stand aside. Over here," he said to Laz, motioning; and Laz stepped forward as if measuring the distance.
"About here, Jedge?"
Rap, rap!
"Have you ever seen Mr. Starbuck make whisky?"
"I've seed him grind co'n."
"And haven't you seen him boil the corn after it was ground into meal?"
"Yes, suh. They cook it up that way for the hounds. Thar's a feller up our way that's got mo' than a hundred hounds. They call him hound poor."
Rap, rap, rap!