Mark Twain: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

41. CHAPTER XLI. (continued)

"The very words I was a-sayin' no longer ago th'n this minute to Sister Utterback, `n' she'll tell you so herself. Sh-she, look at that-air rag ladder, sh-she; `n' s'I, yes, LOOK at it, s'I -­ what COULD he a-wanted of it, s'I. Sh-she, Sister Hotchkiss, sh-she -­"

"But how in the nation'd they ever GIT that grindstone IN there, ANYWAY? `n' who dug that-air HOLE? `n' who -­"

"My very WORDS, Brer Penrod! I was a-sayin' -­ pass that-air sasser o' m'lasses, won't ye? -­ I was a-sayin' to Sister Dunlap, jist this minute, how DID they git that grindstone in there, s'I. Without HELP, mind you -­ 'thout HELP! THAT'S wher 'tis. Don't tell ME, s'I; there WUZ help, s'I; `n' ther' wuz a PLENTY help, too, s'I; ther's ben a DOZEN a-helpin' that nigger, `n' I lay I'd skin every last nigger on this place but I'D find out who done it, s'I; `n' moreover, s'I -­"

"A DOZEN says you! -­ FORTY couldn't a done every thing that's been done. Look at them case-knife saws and things, how tedious they've been made; look at that bed-leg sawed off with 'm, a week's work for six men; look at that nigger made out'n straw on the bed; and look at -­"

"You may WELL say it, Brer Hightower! It's jist as I was a-sayin' to Brer Phelps, his own self. S'e, what do YOU think of it, Sister Hotchkiss, s'e? Think o' what, Brer Phelps, s'I? Think o' that bed-leg sawed off that a way, s'e? THINK of it, s'I? I lay it never sawed ITSELF off, s'I -­ somebody SAWED it, s'I; that's my opinion, take it or leave it, it mayn't be no 'count, s'I, but sich as 't is, it's my opinion, s'I, `n' if any body k'n start a better one, s'I, let him DO it, s'I, that's all. I says to Sister Dunlap, s'I -­"