Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/335

 "But, with these trifling exceptions American negroes might prove a success, eh, Zack?" the Colonel laughed, then hushed, for McDonald seemed in deadly earnest.

"We would pay them very high wages," Mr. Bim suggested, but Zack persisted in shaking his head.

"Wage don't make no diffunce, Mister Bim, not ef de nigger can't spend his money."

"Think how much he would have to take home next year."

"Huh! Mister Bim, you ain't cotch on to nigger ways. Nigger don't aim to take none home. He ain't studyin' 'bout next week, let alone next year!"

"Why wouldn't they come? And why wouldn't they remain?" McDonald asked, for he embraced much of this data in his monthly report to the Honorable Directors.

Three white men on donkeys gathered around Zack's donkey, and everybody listened, including Said, as the expert on black psychology explained, "You see, Mister Bim, it's jes' like dis: yonder's a bunch o' niggers pickin'  cotton; yonder is a bunch o' niggers plantin'  cotton, and some mo' niggers choppin'  cotton—all at de same time. Dis work comes too stiddy an' reg'lar. Back home"—he nodded indefinitely down the great river—"back home a nigger breaks up his lan' den he