"Well, mebbe it's a bad habit," he said, "but it's powerful grippin'.
I'd give a heap for a good twist of old Kentucky. Now we're goin' to
search you an' it ain't wuth while to resist, 'cause we've got you
where we want you, as the dog said to the 'coon when he took him by the
throat. We're lookin' for letters an' dispatches, 'cause we're shore
you come from Buell, but if we should run across any terbacker we'll
have to he'p ourselves to it. We ain't no robbers, 'cause in times like
these it ain't no robbery to take terbacker."
Dick noticed that while they talked one of the men never ceased to cover
him with a rifle. They were good-humored and kindly, but he knew they
would not relax an inch from their duty.
"All right," he said, "go ahead. I'll give you a good legal title to
everything you may find."
He knew that the letter was lying in the bushes within ten feet of them
and he had a strong temptation to look in that direction and see if it
were as securely hidden as he had thought, but he resisted the impulse.
Two of the men searched him rapidly and dexterously, and much to their
disappointment found no dispatch.
"You ain't got any writin' on you, that's shore," said the spokesman.
"I'd expected to find a paper, an' I had a lingerin' hope, too, that we
might find a little terbacker on you 'spite of what you said."
"You don't think I'd lie about the tobacco, would you?"
"Sonny, it ain't no lyin' in a big war to say you ain't got no terbacker,
when them that's achin' for it are standin' by, ready to grab it.
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