Now, if this be true of the whole, it may be true of a
part."
"Abiram, out with your grievances like a man," interrupted the
squatter, with a hoarse laugh. "You want to pray! But of what use will
it be, according to your own doctrine, to serve God five minutes and
the devil an hour? Harkee, friend; I'm not much of a husband-man, but
this I know to my cost; that to make a right good crop, even on the
richest bottom, there must be hard labour; and your {snufflers} liken
the 'arth to a field of corn, and the men, who live on it, to its
yield. Now I tell you, Abiram, that you are no better than a thistle
or a mullin; yea, ye ar' wood of too open a pore to be good even to
burn!"
The malign glance, which shot from the scowling eye of Abiram,
announced the angry character of his feelings, but as the furtive look
quailed, immediately, before the unmoved, steady, countenance of the
squatter, it also betrayed how much the bolder spirit of the latter
had obtained the mastery over his craven nature.
Content with his ascendency, which was too apparent, and had been too
often exerted on similar occasions, to leave him in any doubt of its
extent, Ishmael coolly continued the discourse, by adverting more
directly to his future plans.
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