Then he reached down to help me step onto the board. But jus' as
he was agoin' to take me by the hand: 'Hello!' says he. 'Look a-
there!' An' I turned round an' looked, an' if there wasn't Mrs.
Andrew Jackson an' General Tom Thumb a-walkin' down the path.
"'What shall we do?' says I.
"'Come along,' says he. 'We aint a-goin' to stop for them. Get
up, all the same.'
"I tried to get up as he said, but it wasn't so easy for me on
account of my not bein' such a high stepper as Jone, an' I was a
good while a-gettin' a good footin' on the board.
"Mrs. Jackson an' the General, they came right up to us an' set
down on a bench which was fastened between two trees near the wall.
An' there they set, a-lookin' steady at us with their four little
eyes, like four empty thimbles.
"'You appear to be goin' away,' says Mrs. Jackson.
"'Yes,' says Jone from the top of the wall. We're a-goin' to take
a slight stroll outside, this salu-brious evenin'.'
"'Do you think,' says she, 'that the United States Bank would be
open this time of day?'
"'Oh no,' says Jone, 'the banks all close at three o'clock. It's a
good deal after that now.'
"'But if I told the officers who I was, wouldn't that make a
difference?' says she. 'Wouldn't they go down an' open the bank?'
"'Not much,' says Jone, givin' a pull which brought me right up to
the top o' the wall an' almost clean down the other side, with one
jerk. 'I never knowed no officers that would do that.
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