Set down an' help yerself." Before taking his seat, Yates turned laughingly to Mr.Benedict, shook his hand, and "hoped for a better acquaintance." Jim was puzzled.

The man was no ordinary man; he was good-natured; he was not easily perturbed; he was there with a purpose, and that purpose had nothing to do with sport After Yates had satisfied his appetite with the coarse food before him, and had lighted his cigar, Jim drove directly at business.
"What brung ye here ?" said he.
"A pair of horses and a birch canoe." "Oh! I didn't know but 'twas a mule and a bandanner hankercher," said Jim; "and whar be ye goin' to sleep to-night ?" "In the canoe, I suppose, if some hospitable man doesn't invite me to sleep in his cabin." "An' if ye sleep in his cabin, what be ye goin' to do to-morrer ?" "Get up." "An' clear out ?" "Not a bit of it." "Well, I love to see folks make themselves to home; but ye don't sleep in no cabin o' mine till I know who ye be, an' what ye're arter." "Jim, did you ever hear of entertaining angels unaware ?" and Yates looked laughingly into his face.
"No, but I've hearn of angels entertainin' theirselves on tin-ware, an' I've had 'em here." "Do you have tin peddlers here ?" inquired Yates, looking around him.
"No, but we have paupers sometimes," and Jim looked Yates directly in the eye.
"What paupers ?" "From Sevenoaks." "And do they bring tin-ware ?" "Sartin they do; leastways, one on 'em did, an' I never seen but one in the woods, an' he come here one night tootin' on a tin horn, an' blowin' about bein' the angel Gabrel.

Do you see my har ?" "Rather bushy, Jim." "Well, that's the time it come up, an' it's never been tired enough to lay down sence." "What became of Gabriel ?" "I skeered 'im, and he went off into the woods pertendin' he was tryin' to catch a bullet.

That's the kind o' ball I allers use when I have a little game with a rovin' angel that comes kadoodlin' round me." "Did you ever see him afterward ?" inquired Yates.
"Yes, I seen him.

He laid down one night under a tree, an' he wasn't called to breakfast, an' he never woke up.