"
That was odd. That is just what I do; only I make
an O. And I could see people nodding to one another,
same as they do when they mean "THAT's so."
"Now, then, I'll go on. That same Saturday -- no,
it was the night before -- there was a steamboat laying
at Flagler's Landing, forty miles above here, and it
was raining and storming like the nation. And there
was a thief aboard, and he had them two big di'monds
that's advertised out here on this courthouse door;
and he slipped ashore with his hand-bag and struck
out into the dark and the storm, and he was a-hoping
he could get to this town all right and be safe. But he
had two pals aboard the boat, hiding, and he knowed
they was going to kill him the first chance they got and
take the di'monds; because all three stole them, and
then this fellow he got hold of them and skipped.
"Well, he hadn't been gone more'n ten minutes be-
fore his pals found it out, and they jumped ashore and
lit out after him. Prob'ly they burnt matches and
found his tracks. Anyway, they dogged along after
him all day Saturday and kept out of his sight; and
towards sundown he come to the bunch of sycamores
down by Uncle Silas's field, and he went in there to
get a disguise out of his hand-bag and put it on before
he showed himself here in the town -- and mind you he
done that just a little after the time that Uncle Silas was
hitting Jubiter Dunlap over the head with a club -- for
he DID hit him.
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