, which is much more than could be asserted of his
condition the next, for as he looked down the road he beheld Sarah
Maria gamboling along, having in tow at the end of a rope a
well-spent, perspiring darky.

"Dis yere yo' cow, massa?" asked the weary African as he came up.

Steve hesitated; he was sorely tempted to repudiate madam.

"Ain't yo's Massa Lubland?"

Steve nodded in a gloomy manner.

"Den I reckon dis yere b'longs to yo'," he said confidently, and he
tugged and pulled the unruly beast within the boundary of the
cow-yard, with no further damage to the place than the trampling of
several choice plants and the breaking of a young apple tree.

"How much do I owe you?" asked Steve in a tone of subdued melancholy.

"Now, massa, I's gwine tell yo' my story, an' den I lebes it to yo' to
do de right ting by me. Yo' see, dis yere cow come to me jes' 'bout
tree months ago, an' my wife she 'lowed it was a giff, but I sez, 'No,
sah, no giffs come a-droppin' out de sky dat a-way. Dis yere b'longs
to some ob de quality folk, an' dey's a-gwine to want her some day, so
we mus' keep her up right smart, an' dey'll pay us fer all our
trubble.' So we fed her ob de fat ob de lan', but 'peared like she
were de kin' dat keeps lean anyways; dat's why she look so kin' o'
pulin' now.

"She was so contrairy to manage dat I got kin' o' skeered ob her, an'
one day she tuk me in de pit ob de stomach an' h'isted me ober de
fence, an' I hed mis'ry in de stomach an' mis'ry in de back, an' my
wife 'lowed I was gwine ter die. It tuk de doctor an' a powerful lot
o' medicine ter sot me up agin, an' I was kin' o' porely fer a long
time. Bimeby we heerd de cow b'longed ter Massa Lubland, an' yo' libed
out heah, an' jes' den a neighbor come 'long wid a load o' furn'ture
an' I ax him:

"'Could yo' take de cow?'

"'Ef she'll hitch on I could,' he say. 'Is she peaceable or is she
ornery?'

"'She's ornery heah,' I say, 'but she's gwine ter wawk 'long lak a
lady when she's gwine home, 'case she's homesick.'

"Well, massa, he done tuk her, but when he come back from de city he
tole me she jes' sot herself agin goin', an' she sot so hard de hosses
couldn't pull nohow, an' when he got down to loose her she rared till
she fetched some o' de furn'ture down on her haid, an' dar was a nice
table broke ter kindlin' wood, an' I hed ter pay him five dollars fer
it. An' jes' as I put de pocket book up agin--an' it was plum'
empty--roun' de corner c