"
"Ho! ho! you're about what I call a 'cute nigger," laughed Jim. "Come,
go on,--this gets interesting."
"Well, directly I yearde de dogs. Dere was a pond little way off; so I
tuck to it, an' waded out till I could just touch my toes an' keep my
nose above water so's to breathe. Presently dey all cum down, an' I
yearde Mass' George say, 'I'll hunt dat nigger till I find him if takes
a month. I'se goin' to make a zample of him,'--so I shook some at dat,
for I know'd what Mass' George's zamples was. Arter while one ob de men
says, 'He ain't yere,--he'd shown hisself before dis, if he was,' an' I
spose I would, for I was pretty nearly choked, only I said to myself
when I went in, 'I'll go to de bottom before I'll come up to be tuck,'
so I jest held on by my toes an' waited.
"I didn't dare to cum out when dey rode away to try a new scent, an'
when I did I jest skulked round de edge ob de pond, ready to take to it
agen if I yearde dem, an' when night cum I started off an' run an'
walked agen hard's I could, an' den at day-dawn I tuck to anoder pond,
an' went on a log dat was stickin' in de water, and broke down some
rushes an' bushes enuf to lie down on an' cover me up, an' den I slept
all day, for I was drefful tired an' most starved too. Next evenin' when
it got dark, I went on agen, an' trabblin through de woods I seed a
little light, an' sartin dis time dat it was a darkey's cabin, I made
for it, an' it was.
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