"I reckon I mout ez well," replied the boy. "I don't stay erroun' home ez much ez I oughter."
"You'll be around more, of course, now that I am there. It will be so much less lonesome for two young people than for one. Then, you can be a great help to me, too."
The preacher did not look down to see how wide his listener's eyes grew as he answered: "Oh, I ain't fittin' to be no he'p to you, suh. Fust thing, I ain't nevah got religion, an' then I ain't well larned enough."
"Oh, there are a thousand other ways in which you can help, and I feel sure that you will."
"Of co'se, I'll do de ve'y bes' I kin."
"There is one thing I want you to do soon, as a favor to me."
"I can't go to de mou'nah's bench," cried the boy, in consternation.
"And I don't want you to," was the calm reply.
Another look of wide-eyed astonishment took in the preacher's face. These were strange words from one of his guild. But without noticing the surprise he had created, Dokesbury went on: "What I want is that you will take me fishing as soon as you can. I never get tired of fishing and I am anxious to go here. Tom Scott says you fish a great deal about here."