CHAPTER XVII.
IN WHICH JIM CONSTRUCTS TWO HAPPY DAVIDS, RAISES HIS HOTEL, AND DISMISSES SAM YATES.
When the boat touched the bank, Jim, still with his rifle pointed at the breast of Sam Yates, said: "Now git out, an' take a bee line for the shanty, an' see how many paces ye make on't." Yates was badly blown by his row of ten miles on the river, and could hardly stir from his seat; but Mr.Benedict helped him up the bank, and then Jim followed him on shore.
Benedict looked from one to the other with mingled surprise and consternation, and then said: "Jim, what does this mean ?" "It means," replied Jim, "that Number 'leven, an' his name is Williams, forgot to 'tend to his feelin's over old Tilden's grave, an' I've axed 'im to come back an' use up his clean hankerchers.

He was took with a fit o' knowin' somethin', too, an' I'm goin' to see if I can cure 'im.
It's a new sort o' sickness for him, an' it may floor 'im." "I suppose there is no use in carrying on this farce any longer," said Yates.

"I knew you, Mr.Benedict, soon after arriving here, and it seems that you recognized me; and now, here is my hand.

I never meant you ill, and I did not expect to find you alive.

I have tried my best to make you out a dead man, and so to report you; but Jim has compelled me to come back and make sure that you are alive." "No, I didn't," responded Jim.