'I'm 'bout ready to turn in anyway.'" The narrator paused for a moment.

John was rather wondering what it all had to do with the Erie Canal, but he said nothing.
"Wa'al, next mornin'," David resumed, "I got up an' shaved an' dressed, an' set 'round waitin' fer the breakfust bell to ring till nigh on to half-past nine o'clock.

Bom-by the' came a knock at the door, an' I says, 'Come in,' an' in come one o' them fellers.

'Beg pah'din, sir,' he says.

'Did you ring, sir ?' "'No,' I says, 'I didn't ring.