Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/22

 gentleman speak to you, the one in the linen suit; both of you are from the South, aren't you?"

"Sho is! Us come from Vicksburg, Mississippi. You come from down yonder too! I knowed dat de fust minute you spoke 'Uncle'."

"Aren't these people rough?" she nodded. "I'm afraid they'll break my violin."

Zack saw that Miss Stanton was hugging a violin case, so he reached out a lean arm behind her and braced himself against the rail. "Stand right still, Missy. Dey ain't gwine to shove you no mo'."

"Thank you, Uncle Zack."

Taint nothin' 'tall, Missy, an' not much o' dat. Is you gwine on dis 'scussion?"

"Yes," she smiled, "I'm going on the excursion, Uncle—what is your name?"

"Zack Foster, Miss; but ev'body, white an' black, calls me 'Ole Reliable'."

Miss Stanton giggled, which opened Zack's confidence. "Yas'm, all dem big bug white folks, up an' down Cherry Street, dey knows me reel good. And 'tain't nary one of 'em but what gives Ole Reliable a mighty high name. You know—Missy"

"Hush!" she said. "Look!" pointing to the dock.

On Doris Stanton's last night in New York, she had gone to hear a wonderful Italian woman sing