“I has been a sailorman, sah, an’ I don’t git dizzy, an’ I said as how I’d climb dem cliffs, an’ I did, by buildin’ ladders wid poles I cut, choppin’ down a tree here an’ dere, an’ arter weeks of work I got out, an’ den I fetch up my weepin an’ some grub, an’ Massa John Hill he told me ter go ter Fort Fettermore an’ fine you, an’ tell you he sent fer yer ter come an’ save dere lives; but ter tell no one else but you, an’ when you come wid your scouts, you was ter bring ropes in plenty, so as ter git ’em out of dat lonesome valley.”
“And those four men?”
“Dey overdid it, sah, fer dey didn’t git a horse, mule, or waggin out ob de valley fust, an’ dey hed ter hoof it wid dere gold, or de gold we all hed got, an’ carry it, an’ I guesses it were mighty slow work.
“I guesses, sah, dey set off de blow-up business afore dey was ready, fer all de pervisions were in de valley, sabe what was kept in de cabin on de cliffs fer de men’s dinner.”
“How long have you been on the trail, Bill?”
“’Bout a month, sah, fer I hed to reckon as how ter go, an’ got los’, so my grub gin out, my ammunition, too, an’ I has hed a terribul time, sah, so I had.”
“You look it; but you met white men on the way?”
“One, sah an’ heerd others. Dey was gold hunters, sah.”
“Not the four men who left the valley?”