[Exit Sampey, L.
Enter Walker.
Walker. Why, how do you do, Dr. Gaines? I em glad to see you, I’ll swear.
Dr. G. How do you do, Mr. Walker? I did not expect to see you up here so soon. What has hurried you?
Walk. Well, you see, doctor, I comes when I em not expected. The price of niggers is up, and I em gwine to take advantage of the times. Now, doctor, ef you’ve got any niggers that you wants to sell, I em your man. I am paying the highest price of any body in the market. I pay cash down, and no grumblin’.
Dr. G. I don’t know that I want to sell any of my people now. Still, I’ve got to make up a little money next month, to pay in bank; and another thing, the doctors say that we are likely to have a touch of the cholera this summer, and if that’s the case, I suppose I had better turn as many of my slaves into cash as I can.
Walk. Yes, doctor, that is very true. The cholera is death on slaves, and a thousand dollars in your pocket is a great deal better than a nigger in the field, with cholera at his heels. Why, who is that coming up the lane? It’s Mr. Wildmarsh, as I live! Jest the very man I wants to see.
Enter Mr. Wildmarsh.
Why, how do you do, Squire? I was jest a thinkin’ about you.
Wildmarsh. How are you, Mr. Walker? and how are you, doctor? I am glad to see you both looking so well. You seem in remarkably good health, doctor?