ess of step to a sense of delicacy as commendable as it
is rare in those parts, and immediately resolved that I would look with a
kind regard upon that individual: I would parley with him, detain him with
some idle thought, while, all unknown to him, I could seize that moment to
pry into his dark and mysterious nature, and if he proved modest and
upright, as no doubt he would, how would I astound him with a gratuitous
half-bit! Or if he resented that, (it might be,) I would have him at
nine-pins; I would send him of errands; make up objectless and _boot_-less
employment, if necessary, and so contrive to benefit him unawares; to
cherish and sustain his high moral tone, and at some future day, (it was
not impossible,) raise him to the dignity of trowsers! I would do this
without casting a single shadow upon his unsophisticated nature; I would
not deepen his complexion with a single blush!

On coming nearer, I discovered that he was carrying suspended in one hand
what appeared to be specimens of some rare and curious vegetable; strange
roots, medicinal perhaps; bulbous, yet elongated, and beet-like at the
lower extremity, but dark and rough like an artichoke; which, on close
examination, proved to be young alligators. The little nigger had them by
the tail, and they were moaning like kittens in the blindness of their
first days. I afterward discovered that they were not in good voice, from
the circumstance of being carried so long in that unnatural manner. But
what was my surprise, my delight, that an animal so Egyptian in
association, so hieroglyphical, so suggestive of dragons and monsters,
could be so delicately small, so infantile, so perfectly harmless! There
were three of them, each about six inches long, counting the tail; but how
long they had been that long, or whether they had ever been shorter, it
was impossible to say. One could not but ask, were they weaned, or were
they just 'out?' but no one could divine. We may be tolerably certain,
however, that their mother was not aware they were out, otherwise small
Bob would doubtless have had no farther rolling of marbles in those parts;
no riding of my little gray all over town 'just to air him' as he said; no
running for Massalini, the triangle and the tambourine, for our evening
dances. They were not very lively, being, as I have stated, almost gone
with grief or pain, one could hardly tell which, not being acquainted with
their manner of expression. Placed upon the