you hear me! So--you's
got to show him what you kin do in de nex' few days. You got to be pison
good, en let him see it; you got to do everything dat'll make him b'lieve
in you, en you got to sweeten aroun' ole Aunt Pratt, too--she's pow'ful
strong with de Jedge, en de bes' frien' you got. Nex', you'll go 'long
away to Sent Louis, en dat'll _keep_ him in yo' favor. Den you go en make
a bargain wid dem people. You tell 'em he ain't gwine to live long--en
dat's de fac', too--en tell 'em you'll pay 'em intrust, en big intrust,
too--ten per--what you call it?"
"Ten percent a month?"
"Dat's it. Den you take and sell yo' truck aroun', a little at a time,
en pay de intrust. How long will it las'?"
"I think there's enough to pay the interest five or six months." "Den
you's all right. If he don't die in six months, dat don't make no
diff'rence--Providence'll provide. You's gwine to be safe--if you
behaves." She bent an austere eye on him and added, "En you IS gwine to
behave--does you know dat?"
He laughed and said he was going to try, anyway. She did not unbend. She
said gravely:
"Tryin' ain't de thing. You's gwine to _do_ it. You ain't gwine to
steal a pin--'ca'se it ain't safe no mo'; en you ain't gwine into no bad
comp'ny--not even once, you understand; en you ain't gwine to drink a
drop--nary a single drop; en you ain't gwine to gamble one single
gamble--not one! Dis ain't what you's gwine to try to do, it's what
you's gwine to DO. En I'll tell you how I knows it. Dis is how. I's
gwine to foller along to Sent Louis my own self; en you's gwine to come
to me every day o' your life, en I'll look you over; en if you fails in
one single one o' dem things--jist _one_--I take my oath I'll come
straight down to dis town en tell de Jedge you's a nigger en a slave--en
_prove_ it!" She paused to let her words sink home. Then she added,
"Chambers, does you b'lieve me when I says dat?"
Tom was sober enough now. There was no levity in his voice when he
answered:
"Yes, Mother, I know, now, that I am reformed--and permanently.
Permanently--and beyond the reach of any human temptation."
"Den g'long home en begin!"

CHAPTER 15 -- The Robber Robbed
_Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits._
--Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar
_Behold, the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs in the one
basket"--which is but a manner of saying, "Scatter your
money and your attention"; but the wise man saith, "Put all
your eggs in the one basket an