A glance about the room
showed no one whom the colonel could imagine to be Fetters, and he was
about to ask the waiter if that gentleman had yet entered the dining
room, when a man came in and sat down on the opposite side of the
table. The colonel looked up, and met the cheerful countenance of the
liveryman from whom he had hired a horse and buggy some weeks before.
"Howdy do?" said the newcomer amiably. "Hope you've been well."
"Quite well," returned the colonel, "how are you?"
"Oh, just tol'able. Tendin' co't?"
"No, I came down here to see a man that's attending court--your friend
Fetters. I suppose he'll be in to dinner."
"Oh, yes, but he ain't come in yet. I reckon you find the ho-tel a
little different from the time you were here befo'."
"This is a better dinner than I got," replied the colonel, "and I
haven't seen the landlord anywhere, nor his buggy."
"No, he ain't here no more. Sad loss to Carthage! You see Bark
Fetters--that's Bill's boy that's come home from the No'th from
college--Bark Fetters come down here one day, an' went in the ho-tel,
an' when Lee Dickson commenced to put on his big airs, Bark cussed 'im
out, and Lee, who didn't know Bark from Adam, cussed 'im back, an'
then Bark hauled off an' hit 'im. They had it hot an' heavy for a
while. Lee had more strength, but Bark had more science, an' laid Lee
out col'. Then Bark went home an' tol' the ole man, who had a mortgage
on the ho-tel, an' he sol' Lee up.
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