Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/312

 Odok—grudgingly and partially—into his confidence, on the promise of a jewel to each. They circulated a whisper amongst the villages: "Be cautious, be silent. Meet under the great mimosa tree, where the drum beats at Hillet Debaa, on the first night of the Moon of Muharrem. Jewels such as the Great White Prince gives only to kings, will be sold at the price of a milch cow, at the price of four goats, at the price of twenty piasters."

The progressive Said offered a cut rate if they paid in moneys so as to catch the cash from the laborers.

Business began to pick up in Wadi Okar. Zack loved to follow the white folks into the field, just for the fun of seeing the headman make two hundred negroes hustle. "Lordee, Mister Bim, ain't I been tellin' you dat's de onlies' way to git work out of a nigger? You hafter bat 'em over de head."

According to Zack the Colonel had an easy job. All the work that the Colonel had to do was to stretch his garden line in straight rows of five feet apart, then tell Mahomet Mansour to tell Tombi to tell the head man to tell the negroes to build the dirt up to those lines, which caused plenty of argufying, and Zack loved to listen. The dirt got built, the seed got planted, and the growing cotton got hoed out. Every morning when