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"Master Bass, I want to ask you what part of the country you came from?"
"Why, Platt, what put that into your head?" he answered. "You wouldn't know if I should tell you." After a moment or two he added--"I was born in Canada; now guess where that is." "Oh, I know where Canada is," said I, "I have been there myself."
"Yes, I expect you are well acquainted all through that country," he remarked, laughing incredulously. 
"As sure as I live, Master Bass," I replied, "I have been there. I have been in Montreal and Kingston, and Queenston, and a great many places in Canada, and I have been in York State, too-- in Buffalo, and Rochester, and Albany, and can tell you the names of the villages on the Erie canal and the Champlain canal. Bass turned round and gazed at me a long time without uttering a syllable. 
"How come you here?" he inquired, at length, "Master Bass," I answered, "if justice had been done, I never would have been here." 
"Well how's this?" said he. "Who are you? You have been in Canada sure enough; I know al the places you mention. How did you happen to get here? Come tell me all about it."
"I have no friends here," was my reply, " that I can put confidence in. I am afraid to tell you, though I don't believe you would tell Master Epps if I should."