Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/168

 Zack held his tongue and listened, while Cameron talked on fluently. "These Nigerines make excellent tenants. I'm glad to get every one of them. But how did your man persuade them?"

The Colonel didn't know, so Zack answered for himself, "Huh, mister! I don't have no trouble 'swadin' niggers. You-all gentlemen wuz talkin' 'bout needin' hoe-hands, an' dese niggers wuz lookin' for a good home; so I jes fotch 'em in. Dey been 'spectin' me for de longes' kin' o' time. Somebody must ha' tole 'em I wuz comin'."

"Extr'ord'n'ry! extr'ord'n'ry! 'pon my word—most extr'ord'n'ry!" Cameron repeated over and over to himself.

In the silence and safety of the plantation house Colonel Spottiswoode got Zack cornered, and nailed him. "Here, Zack! Now tell me the truth about these people? How did you manage to talk to them? That's what I can't understand."

"You see, Cunnel, it all come up dis way: Dar wuz a white feller livin' wid 'em. He didn't foller 'long wid de res', cause he 'peared shamed to meet you-all. When I fust arrived out to de camp, dey made a big rookus. Dis white feller axed me what wuz I doin' in dis country, an' I tol' him I come to teach dese niggers. Jes soon as he toted dat news to de crowd, dey said a whole lot, and den de white man axed me wuz