'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--” “Why, dog my cats, they must a ben a house-full o' niggers in there every night for four weeks to a done all that work, Sister Phelps.  Look at that shirt--every last inch of it kivered over with secret African writ'n done with blood!  Must a ben a raft uv 'm at it right along, all the time, amost.  Why, I'd give two dollars to have it read to me; 'n' as for the niggers that wrote it, I 'low I'd take 'n' lash 'm t'll--” “People to _help_ him, Brother Marples!  Well, I reckon you'd _think_ so if you'd a been in this house for a while back.  Why, they've stole everything they could lay their hands on--and we a-watching all the time, mind you. They stole that shirt right off o' the line! and as for that sheet they made the rag ladder out of, ther' ain't no telling how many times they _didn't_ steal that; and flour, and candles, and candlesticks, and spoons, and the old warming-pan, and most a thousand things that I disremember now, and my new calico dress; and me