ell me whaih I 'quiahed dat I li'ble to fin'
somebody hyeah dat know him. So I jes' drapped in."

"I know a good many young men from the South. What's your son's name?"

"Well, he named aftah my ol' mastah, Zachariah Priestley Shackelford."

"Zach Shackelford!" exclaimed some of the men, and there was a general
movement among them, but a glance from Turner quieted the commotion.

"Why, yes, I know your son," he said. "He's in here almost every
night, and he's pretty sure to drop in a little later on. He has been
singing with one of the colored companies here until a couple of weeks
ago."

"Heish up; you don't say so. Well! well! well! but den Zachariah allus
did have a mighty sweet voice. He tu'k hit aftah his mammy. Well, I
sholy is hopin' to see dat boy. He was allus my favorite, aldough I
reckon a body ain' got no livin' right to have favorites among dey
chilluns. But Zach was allus sich a good boy."

The men turned away. They could not remember a time since they had
known Zach Shackelford when by any stretch of imagination he could
possibly have been considered good. He was known as one of the wildest
young bucks that frequented the club, with a deft hand at cards and
dice and a smooth throat for whisky. But Turner gave them such a
defiant glance that they were almost ready to subscribe to anything
the old man might say.

"Dis is a mighty fine place you got hyeah. Hit mus' be a kind of a
hotel or boa'din' house, ain't hit?"

"Yes, something like."

"We don' have nuffin' lak dis down ouah way. Co'se, we's jes' common
folks. We wo'ks out in de fiel', and dat's about all we knows--fiel',
chu'ch an' cabin. But I's mighty glad my Zach 's gittin' up in de
worl'. He nevah were no great han' fu' wo'k. Hit kin' o' seemed to go
agin his natur'. You know dey is folks lak dat."

"Lots of 'em, lots of 'em," said Mr. Turner.

The crowd of men had been augmented by a party from out of the card
room, and they were listening intently to the old fellow's chatter.
They felt now that they ought to laugh, but somehow they could not,
and the twitching of their careless faces was not from suppressed
merriment.

The visitor looked around at them, and then remarked: "My, what a lot
of boa'dahs you got."

"They don't all stay here," answered Turner seriously; "some of them
have just dropped in to see their friends."

"Den I 'low Zach'll be drappin' in presently. You mus' 'scuse me fu'
talkin' 'bout him, but I's mighty anxio