I could; but you'll not exactly suit my
friend.'

'Buy har fur yourself, then, Kirke. She'd suit you. She's sound, I tell
ye--ye'd make money on har.'

'Not much, I reckon,' I replied, dryly.

'Why not? She'll breed like a rabbit.' * * * * *

'I wouldn't own her for the whole State: if I had her, I'd free her on
the spot!' The cool bestiality of the trader disgusted me, and I forgot
myself.

He started back surprised; then quietly remarked: 'Ye're a Nutherner, I
swar; no corncracker ever held sech doctrines as them.'

'Yes,' I replied, dropping the accent, which my blunder had rendered
useless; 'I _am_ a Northerner; but I want a nurse, notwithstanding, for
a friend.'

'Whar d'ye live?' asked the trader, in the same free, good-natured tone
as before.

'In New York.'

'In York! What! Yer not Mr. Kirke, of Randall, Kirke & Co.? But,
blamenation, ye _ar_! How them whiskers has altered ye! I _thort_ I'd
seed ye afore. Haint ye come it over me slick? Tuk in clean, swallered
hull. But thar's my hand, Mr. Kirke; I'm right glad ter see ye.'

'Where have you met me, my good fellow? I don't remember _you_.'

'Down ter Orleans. Seed ye inter Roye, Struthers & Co.'s. The ole man
thinks a heap o' you; ye give 'em a pile of business, doan't ye.'

'No, not much of our own. They buy cotton for our English
correspondents, and negotiate through us, that is all. Roye is a fine
old gentleman.'

'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