"The all-important matter before us for
consideration is,--how can I get a drink? I MUST have a drink, I tell
you!" He held up his hands, and they were shaking as if with palsy. "And
I must have it damned quick!"
"You-all sure do talk some powerful big words," said Judy, with critical
interest. "You-all sure must be some eddecated. Auntie Sue, now, she
talks--"
The man interrupted her: "Who is 'Auntie Sue'?"
"I don't know," Judy returned; "she's just Auntie Sue--that's all I
know. She sure is--"
Again the man interrupted: "I think it would be well for me to
interview this worthy aunt of yours." And then, while he raised himself,
unsteadily, to his feet, he continued, in a muttering undertone: "You
don't seem to appreciate the situation. If I don't get some sort of
liquor soon, things are bound to happen."
He attempted to step from the boat to the shore; but the instability of
the light, flat-bottomed skiff, together with his own unsteady weakness,
combined to land him half in the water and half on the muddy bank where
he struggled helplessly, and, in his weakened condition, would have
slipped wholly into the river had not Judy rushed down the rude steps to
his assistance.
With a strength surprising in one of her apparent weakness, the mountain
girl caught the stranger under his shoulders and literally dragged
him from the water.
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