"
"Your looks are decidedly against you," remarked the Colonel with
a dry smile. He had recognized Oncle Jazon after a little sharp
scrutiny. "I suppose, however, that we can let you gnaw the bones
after we've got off the meat."
"Thank 'ee, thank 'ee, plenty good. A feller 'at's as hongry as I
am kin go through a bone like a feesh through water."
Clark laughed and said:
"I don't see any teeth that you have worth mentioning, but your
gums may be unusually sharp."
"Ya-a-s, 'bout as sharp as yer wit, Colonel Clark, an' sharper'n
yer eyes, a long shot. Ye don't know me, do ye? Take ernother
squint at me, an' see'f ye kin 'member a good lookin' man!"
"You have somewhat the appearance of an old scamp by the name of
Jazon that formerly loafed around with a worthless gun on his
shoulder, and used to run from every Indian he saw down yonder in
Kentucky." Clark held out his hand and added cordially:
"How are you, Jazon, my old friend, and where upon earth have you
come from?"
Oncle Jazon pounced upon the hand and gripped it in his own
knotted fingers, gazing delightedly up into Clark's bronzed and
laughing face.
"Where'd I come frum? I come frum ever'wheres. Fust time I ever
got lost in all my born days. Fve been a trompin' 'round in the
water seems like a week, crazy as a pizened rat, not a knowin'
north f'om south, ner my big toe f'om a turnip! Who's got some
tobacker?"
Oncle Jazon's story, when presently he told it, interested Clark
deeply.
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