more do this than nothing. Just one little snifter would fetch HIM."

'Deed it would, Joe. Say--I wish the boys could see us now."

So do I."

Say--boys, don't say anything about it, and some time when they're

around, I'll come up to you and say, 'Joe, got a pipe? I want a smoke.'

And you'll say, kind of careless like, as if it warn't anything, you'll

say, 'Yes, I got my OLD pipe, and another one, but my tobacker ain't

very good.' And I'll say, 'Oh, that's all right, if it's STRONG

enough.' And then you'll out with the pipes, and we'll light up just as

ca'm, and then just see 'em look!"

"By jings, that'll be gay, Tom! I wish it was NOW!"

So do I! And when we tell 'em we learned when we was off pirating,

won't they wish they'd been along?"

"Oh, I reckon not! I'll just BET they will!"

So the talk ran on. But presently it began to flag a trifle, and grow

disjointed. The silences widened; the expectoration marvellously

increased. Every pore inside the boys' cheeks became a spouting

fountain; they could scarcely bail out the cellars under their tongues

fast enough to prevent an inundation; little overflowings down their

167

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer