Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/242

 hold of the rail all five women bounded up and shook their heads excitedly.

They pointed upward through the black cubby hole, and shook their heads more violently than ever. The Black Effendi must not go upstairs.

"How come I mustn't go up dar? Ain't dis a free steamboat? Ain't I fust class? Can't I go wharever I 'zires to go?"

All of which whetted Zack's eagerness to see what lay beyond the cubby hole. He kept looking upward, and kept making a bluff that he was going anyhow. Perhaps he meant to go, perhaps he only enjoyed the abject terror upon those women's faces. Then Zack changed his mind. Through the cubby hole a black face scowled down upon him and vanished. Then the hole darkened; a pair of stout black legs appeared and began descending the ladder. These legs were so knotty and muscular that they evidently belonged to a man. So Zack prepared to leave.