Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/59

 Zack tagged at his heels, full of enthusiasm over the big concert which Signorina Aurora was planning, when little Missy was goin' to play. He tried to tell about it, but after many shakes and turns caught the idea that the Colonel did not want to talk.

Meeting Mr. Shields, the Colonel nodded. Neither made an advance. There the matter stood.

The Italians and Reifenstein kept together, close together, walking or standing. They moved along jerkily, stopped, circled around each other, put their heads together, and talked in whispers. Whenever the Colonel passed he caught them looking the other way. "Cunnel," says Zack, "what you reckon ails dem gentmuns? Yistiddy dey axed mo' questions dan enuff 'bout Li Miss an' her fiddle. Jes now when I says 'good mornin dat biggest one kinder nodded; but dem yuthers never said nuthin'—'cept 'barbarous murder' an' 'big pistols.' Dey sholy is got sumpin' on dey min'."

As a matter of fact the three had ceased discussing the all-important seven hundred and eighty-five dollars, which they had lost. They spoke only of those pistols, guardedly, and evasively, even with each other. Having slept on the prospect, Castelleone modified his original