der of the Alabama.
We'll try that first."

"Good!" cried the Briton. "I can't deny the Alabama claim, you know."
And then he added: "Most extraordinary, I assure you."

"Just wait till you smack your mouth on it," said Gid. "Why, sir,
there's the smile of a goddess in each drop and a 'Paradise Regained' in
a swallow. Sit down, Wash Sanders--a swig of it would shoot you into the
air like a rocket."

"But really, Mr. Gid, I think a little of it would help my appetite,"
Sanders replied, looking anxiously toward the Major.

"Appetite!" Gid cried. "You can eat the hind leg of a rhinoceros right
now."

"Do you mean to insult me, sir?" Sanders retorted, weakly bristling up;
and the Major turning from the sideboard, with the odd-shaped bottle and
several glasses in his hands, looked at Batts and said: "Don't, Gid."

"All right, but I was joking," the old rascal declared. "Wash and I
always prank with each other. You can take a joke, can't you, Wash?"

"With the best of them," Sanders answered. "Yes, sir, and before the
doctors proved to me that I couldn't get well I was joking all the
time." He raised his hand and with his long finger nail scratched his
chin. "But they showed me that I couldn't get well and if that ain't
enough to sadden a man's life I don't know what is."

"Now, gentlemen," said the Major, "I want you to help yourselves, and
not be afraid, for the glasses are shallow and the bottle is deep."

The red bewhiskered man Perdue, who had said nothing, took out his quid
of tobacco and with a loud "spat," threw it against the chimney-back.
"I'll join you," he said, grinning. "Never saw any liquor too old for
me."

They stood and touched glasses. Gid walled his eyes like a steer, and
with a rub of his breast and an "ah-hah," he nodded at Low. "What do you
think of that?" he cried. "Isn't it a miracle?"

"Ah, it is very smooth," Low answered, sipping. "Most uncommon I should
think."

"Smooth," said Gid. "Did you say smooth? It is as silk woven in the loom
of a dream. Wash, how does it strike you?"

"I think it will help me," Sanders answered.

"Help you!" And under his breath Gid added: "Ought to kill you."

"What did you say?" Sanders asked.

"Said it wouldn't kill you."

"Oh, I think not. Really, after a while I might be tempted to go out and
eat something. How are you gettin' along, Perdue?"

"Shakin' hands with my grandfather in the speret," Perdue declared, and
running his fingers through hi