Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/350



LL that afternoon Zack plied happily back and forth between the quarters to the gun-boat, making things tidy in the Colonel's cabin, while Said never budged from the catfish stand, assuming an air of proprietorship which made Zack stop and snort. "I sho' is got to bus' one mo' egg in dat nigger. Ef I jes' takes de notion, I'll beat him up so his godmudder wouldn't know him. Wonder what's de wust I kin do to him."

Sunshine itself glowed no warmer than the Old Reliable smile as he approached the catfish stand. The Dongalawi was polishing his pans to a nicety when Zack's shadow fell across his work: "Side, why'nt you come on an' load dat baggage?" Said Wad Darho glanced up, without cessation of industry; "I must keep my bazaar."

This complacent reply came pretty near jolting Old Reliable out of his determination to be agreeable: "You ain't got no catfish stan', not yit."

Said smiled: "Effendi must go, who shall stay? It is I, Said Wad Darho, who will stay. The 336