Part 12 (2/2)

”Course dey don't; en so it stan' to reason dat you's mistaken, Mars Tom Dey wouldn't put de tax on po' truck like san', dat everybody ain't 'bleeged to have, en leave it off'n de bes' thing dey is, which nobody can't git along widout”

Toot hile out by saying they had FORGOT to put on that tax, but they'd be sure to reress, and then they'd put it on, but that was a poor lame co foreign that warn't taxed but just that one, and so they couldn't be consistent without taxing it, and to be consistent was the first law of politics So he stuck to it that they'd left it out unintentional and would be certain to do their best to fix it before they got caught and laughed at

But I didn't feel no it our sand through, and it made me low-spirited, and Ji he would think up another speculation for us that would be just as good as this one and better, but it didn't do no good, we didn't believe there was any as big as this It was o as so rich, and could 'a' bought a country and started a kingdom and been celebrated and happy, and noas so poor and ornery again, and had our sand left on our hands The sand was looking so lovely before, just like gold and di'monds, and the feel of it was so soft and so silky and nice, but now I couldn't bear the sight of it, it made me sick to look at it, and I knowed I wouldn't ever feel coot shut of it, and I didn't have it there no raded down to The others was feeling the same way about it that I was I knowed it, because they cheered up so, the minute I says le's throw this truck overboard

Well, it was going to be work, you know, and pretty solid work, too; so Toth He said me and him would clear out a fifth apiece of the sand, and Jiees', en I's willin' to do a share accordin', but by jings you's kinder pilin' it onto ole Jim, Mars Tom, hain't you?”

”Well, I didn't think so, Ji it, and let's see”

So Jim reckoned it wouldn't be no more than fair if it room and be private, and then he smole a smile that spread around and covered the whole Sahara to the ard, back to the Atlantic edge of it where we coood enough arrangement, and as satisfied if Jim was Jim said he was

So then Tom measured off our two-tenths in the bow and left the rest for Jiood deal to see howlot of sand his share colad now that he had spoke up in tiement altered, for he said that even the way it was now, there was more sand than enjoyment in his end of the contract, he believed

Then we laid into it It was h; so hot we had to move up into cooler weather or we couldn't 'a' stood it Me and Tom took turn about, and one worked while t'other rested, but there warn't nobody to spell poor old Jim, and he made all that part of Africa daood, as so full of laugh, and Ji to knohat tickled us so, and we had to keep s to account for it, and they was pretty poor inventions, but they done well enough, Jiot done as ' By and by Jim was 'most dead, too, but: it ork; then we took turns and spelled him, and he was as thankfull as he could be, and would set on the gunnel and swab the sweat, and heave and pant, and say how good as to a poor old nigger, and he wouldn't ever forgit us He was always the gratefulest nigger I ever see, for any little thing you done for hier outside; inside he was as white as you be

CHAPTER XII JIM STANDING SIEGE

THE next few meals was pretty sandy, but that don't ry; and when you ain't it ain't no satisfaction to eat, anyway, and so a little grit in the meat ain't no particular drawback, as far as I can see

Then we struck the east end of the Desert at last, sailing on a northeast course Away off on the edge of the sand, in a soft pinky light, we see three little sharp roofs like tents, and Toypt”

It made my heart fairly jump You see, I had seen a many and a many a picture of them, and heard tell about them a hundred times, and yet to come on them all of a sudden, that way, and find they was REAL, 'stead of iinations, 'most knocked the breath out of , that theor person, the ets to be a big di solid to it It's just so with George Washi+ngton, and the sa they always said about them seemed to me to be stretchers There was a feller come to the Sunday-school once, and had a picture of theest pyrah, just a steepas a bureau, and laid up in perfectly regular layers, like stair-steps

Thirteen acres, you see, for just one building; it's a fared it was a lie; and outside I was certain of it And he said there was a hole in the pyrao ever so far up a long slanting tunnel, and coe room in the sto stone chest with a king in it, four thousand years old I said toif they will fetch him, for even Methusalem warn't that old, and nobody claims it

As we come a little nearer we see the yaller sand coe like a blanket, and on to it was joined, edge to edge, a wide country of bright green, with a snaky stripe crooking through it, and Toain, for the Nile was another thing that wasn't real towhich is dead certain: if you will fool along over three thousandwith heat so that it makes your eyes water to look at it, and you've been a considerable part of a week doing it, the green country will look so like home and heaven to you that it will make your eyes water AGAIN

It was just so with ot so he could believe it WAS the land of Egypt he was looking at, he wouldn't enter it standing up, but got down on his knees and took off his hat, because he said it wasn't fitten' for a huer to come any other here such men had been as Moses and Joseph and Pharaoh and the other prophets He was a Presbyterian, and had a most deep respect for Moses which was a Presbyterian, too, he said He was all stirred up, and says:

”Hit's de lan' of Egypt, de lan' of Egypt, en I's 'lowed to look at it wid my own eyes! En dah's de river dat was turn' to blood, en I's looking at de very sas, en de locus', en de hail, en whah dey el o' de Lord coht en slew de fust-born in all de lan' o' Egypt Ole Jim ain't worthy to see dis day!”

And then he just broke down and cried, he was so thankful So between hi excited because the land was so full of history--Joseph and his brethren, Moses in the bulrushers, Jacob coypt to buy corn, the silver cup in the sack, and all thes; and Tom just as excited too, because the land was so full of history that was in HIS line, about Noureddin, and Bedreddin, and such like iants, that hts folks, which the half of thes they let on they done, I don't believe

Then we struck a disappoints started up, and it warn't no use to sail over the top of it, because ould go by Egypt, sure, so we judged it was best to set her by co blurred and blotted out, and then drop low and skin along pretty close to the ground and keep a sharp lookout Too the anchor, and Ji with his eyes and watch out for danger ahead We went along a steady gait, but not very fast, and the fog got solider and solider, so solid that Jih it It ful still, and we talked low and was anxious Now and then Jihst her!” and up she would skip, a foot or two, and ould slide right over a flat-roofed inning to turn out and gap and stretch; and once when a feller was clear up on his hind legs so he could gap and stretch better, we took him a blip in the back and knocked hi dead still and we a-straining our ears for sounds and holding our breath, the fog thinned a little, very sudden, and Ji out in an awful scare:

”Oh, for de lan's sake, set her back, Mars Tohts a-comin' for us!” and he went over backwards in the boat