'Yes, he ar; I'm in with him.'
'How in with him?'
'Why, in this business—we go snacks; I do the buyin', and he finds the rocks. We use a pile—sometimes a hun'red, sometimes two hun'red thousand.'
'Is it possible! Then you do a large business?'
'Yes, right smart; I handle 'bout a thousand—big and little—ev'ry year.'
'That is large. You do not buy and sell them all, yourself, do you?'
'Oh, no? I hardly ever sells; once in a while I run agin a buyer—like you—ha! ha!—and let one drap; but gin'rally I cage 'em, and when I git 'bout a hun'red together, I take 'em ter Orleans, and auction 'em off. Thar's no fuss and dicker 'bout thet, ye knows.'
'Yes, I know! But how do you manage so large a gang? I should think some would get away.'
'No, they doan't. I put the ribands on 'em; and, 'sides, ye see them boys, thar?' pointing to three splendid specimens of property, loitering near; 'I've hed them boys nigh on ter ten year, and I haint lost nary a nig sense I had 'em. They're cuter and smarter nor I am, any day.'
'Then you pick the negroes up round the country, and send them to a rendezvous, where you put them in jail till you make up your number?'