"But who's a-gwine to cook your victuals, Mas' Baillie?" "I reckon I'll have to do that for myself," answered the master. "What? You? Mas' Baillie Pegram a-gittin' down on his knees in de mud an' a-smuttin' up of his han's an' his face, an' a-wrastlin' with pots an' kittles? Well, I'd jes' like to see you a-doin' of that!" Baillie was disposed to amuse himself with the boy; so he said: "But your mammy says you don't know how to cook, Sam, and that you don't seem to know how to learn." This staggered Sam for an instant, but he promptly rose to the emergency. "I kin 'splain all dat, Mas' Baillie. You see, I'se done been a-foolin' o' mammy. Mammy, she's de head cook at Warlock; she's a-gittin' old, an' de rheumatiz an' de laziness is a-gittin' into her bones. So she's done tried to make Sam take things offen her shoulders. But I'se done see de situation. I'se watched mammy so long dat I kin cook anything from a Brunswick stew to an omelette sufferin', jes' as good as mammy kin. But it 'ud never 'a' done to let her know that, else she'd 'a' shouldered the whole thing onter Sam. So when she done set me to watch somethin' she's a-cookin' while she's busy with somethin' else, I jes' had to let it spile some way, in self-defence. Of co'se, I had to run out'n de kitchen after that, a-dodgin' o' de pots an' kittles mammy throwed at my head--an' sometimes I didn't dodge quick enough, either--but de result was de same. Mammy was sure I couldn't cook, an' dat's what she done tole you, Mas' Baillie. But I kin cook, sho'. An' please, Mas' Baillie, you'll let me go 'long wid you?" The time was growing short now, and Baillie sent the boy away, saying: "If I ever get to be an officer, Sam, and am allowed a servant, I'll send for you. But you'd better learn all you can about cooking while we're waiting for that." Sam was disconsolate. He went to the detached kitchen building--for no Virginian ever suffered cooking to be carried on within fifty feet of his dwelling--and sat down and buried his face in his hands and rocked himself backward and forward, moaning dismally.