Is it?”
“I reckon it is, if I know what I’m doing. Some folks say a well-diviner ain’t a scientific man, but I maintain he is. And I stick up the same way for a gold-diviner.”
“There’s nothing scientific about breaking off a willow branch and walking over the ground with it looking for a stream of water underground. It’s hit or miss. I’ve heard them say, ‘Dig here,’ and when the shaft had been sunk a couple of hundred feet, there wasn’t a drop of water on the drill. You might just as well roll high-dice for water as to walk over the ground with a willow branch. Sure, a willow branch will dip sometimes, and other times it will rise up, too. If I was going to sink a well, I wouldn’t try to divine water with a piece of willow limb. I’d roll high-dice for it before I’d make a fool out of myself doing that.”
“You just haven’t got a scientific mind, Will,” Ty Ty said sadly. “That’s the whole trouble with your talk. Now, take me. I’m scientific clear through to the marrow, and I’ve always been, and I reckon I’ll be to the end. I don’t laugh and poke fun at scientific notions like you do.”
After the hearty supper of grits and sweet potatoes, hot biscuits and fried ham, both Ty Ty and Will were feeling good. Pluto had eaten as much, if not more than anyone in the house, but he was restless. He knew he ought to leave and go home so he could get up at break of day the next morning and make an early start campaigning. He was beginning to worry about the outcome of the election. If he were not elected sheriff, he did not know what he was going to do. He did not have a job, and the colored share-cropper who worked his sixty-acre farm could not make enough cotton to provide him with a living. He might be able to peddle something, if he could find some novelty that people would buy. He had been selling first one thing and then another for eight or ten years, but he had never been able to make much more than expense money for his car out of it. For one thing, he was never able to get around much. When he remained in town, he liked to sit in the big chair in the pool room and call shots, and to talk about politics. He knew he should not spend so much of his time in the pool room, but he just could not get out in the hot sun day after day trying to sell laundry bluing or furniture polish that people did not wish to buy, or if they did, not have enough money to pay for. But if he were elected sheriff, that would be another matter. He would draw a good salary, with fees in addition, and the deputies could go out and serve all the papers and make all the arrests. He could still sit in the pool room most of the time and call shots across the table.
“I reckon I’d better be going home, now,” he said.
He made no effort to rise from the chair, and no one paid any attention to him.
Darling Jill came in with Griselda and Rosamond and patted Pluto’s bald head. She would not come in front of him where he could put his hands on her, and he was forced to submit to her play while he hoped she would soon consent to sit on his lap.
“When are you going to bring that albino up here so we can see him?” Will asked.
“Stay calm and hold your horses a little longer,” Ty Ty told him. “Black Sam has got to finish washing the dishes first, and then I’ll send him down to the barn for him. Uncle Felix can eat his supper while everybody is looking at the all-white man in here.”
“I’m just crazy to see him,” Darling Jill said, playing with Pluto’s head.
“I’ve got to be going home,” Pluto said. “And that’s a fact.”
Pluto’s statement was completely ignored.
“I’d like to see him, too,” Rosamond said, looking at Griselda. “What does he look like?”
“He’s big and strong. And good-looking too.”
“Aw, hell,” Will said, making a face, “ain’t that just like a woman?”
“I don’t aim to have no fooling around with him,” Ty Ty told them. “You girls
“I reckon it is, if I know what I’m doing. Some folks say a well-diviner ain’t a scientific man, but I maintain he is. And I stick up the same way for a gold-diviner.”
“There’s nothing scientific about breaking off a willow branch and walking over the ground with it looking for a stream of water underground. It’s hit or miss. I’ve heard them say, ‘Dig here,’ and when the shaft had been sunk a couple of hundred feet, there wasn’t a drop of water on the drill. You might just as well roll high-dice for water as to walk over the ground with a willow branch. Sure, a willow branch will dip sometimes, and other times it will rise up, too. If I was going to sink a well, I wouldn’t try to divine water with a piece of willow limb. I’d roll high-dice for it before I’d make a fool out of myself doing that.”
“You just haven’t got a scientific mind, Will,” Ty Ty said sadly. “That’s the whole trouble with your talk. Now, take me. I’m scientific clear through to the marrow, and I’ve always been, and I reckon I’ll be to the end. I don’t laugh and poke fun at scientific notions like you do.”
After the hearty supper of grits and sweet potatoes, hot biscuits and fried ham, both Ty Ty and Will were feeling good. Pluto had eaten as much, if not more than anyone in the house, but he was restless. He knew he ought to leave and go home so he could get up at break of day the next morning and make an early start campaigning. He was beginning to worry about the outcome of the election. If he were not elected sheriff, he did not know what he was going to do. He did not have a job, and the colored share-cropper who worked his sixty-acre farm could not make enough cotton to provide him with a living. He might be able to peddle something, if he could find some novelty that people would buy. He had been selling first one thing and then another for eight or ten years, but he had never been able to make much more than expense money for his car out of it. For one thing, he was never able to get around much. When he remained in town, he liked to sit in the big chair in the pool room and call shots, and to talk about politics. He knew he should not spend so much of his time in the pool room, but he just could not get out in the hot sun day after day trying to sell laundry bluing or furniture polish that people did not wish to buy, or if they did, not have enough money to pay for. But if he were elected sheriff, that would be another matter. He would draw a good salary, with fees in addition, and the deputies could go out and serve all the papers and make all the arrests. He could still sit in the pool room most of the time and call shots across the table.
“I reckon I’d better be going home, now,” he said.
He made no effort to rise from the chair, and no one paid any attention to him.
Darling Jill came in with Griselda and Rosamond and patted Pluto’s bald head. She would not come in front of him where he could put his hands on her, and he was forced to submit to her play while he hoped she would soon consent to sit on his lap.
“When are you going to bring that albino up here so we can see him?” Will asked.
“Stay calm and hold your horses a little longer,” Ty Ty told him. “Black Sam has got to finish washing the dishes first, and then I’ll send him down to the barn for him. Uncle Felix can eat his supper while everybody is looking at the all-white man in here.”
“I’m just crazy to see him,” Darling Jill said, playing with Pluto’s head.
“I’ve got to be going home,” Pluto said. “And that’s a fact.”
Pluto’s statement was completely ignored.
“I’d like to see him, too,” Rosamond said, looking at Griselda. “What does he look like?”
“He’s big and strong. And good-looking too.”
“Aw, hell,” Will said, making a face, “ain’t that just like a woman?”
“I don’t aim to have no fooling around with him,” Ty Ty told them. “You girls
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