Page:The complete poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar.pdf/67

 To you a minute." "Cert," said I— A-nudgin' Liza on the sly An' laughin' in my sleeve with glee, I asked her, please, to pardon me. We walked away a step er two, Jest to git out o' Liza's view, An' then Zeke said, "I want to know Ef you think you're Eliza's beau, An' 'at I'm goin' to let her go Hum with sich a chap as you?" An' I said bold, "You bet I do." Then Zeckel, sneerin', said 'at he Didn't want to hender me. But then he 'lowed the gal was his An' 'at he guessed he knowed his biz, An' wasn't feared o' all my kin With all my friends an' chums throwed in. Some other things he mentioned there That no born man could no ways bear Er think o' ca'mly tryin' to stan' Ef Zeke had be'n the bigges' man. In town, an' not the leanest runt 'At time an' labor ever stunt. An' so I let my fist go "bim," I thought I'd mos' nigh finished him. But Zekel didn't take it so. He jest ducked down an' dodged my blow An' then come back at me so hard, I guess I must 'a' hurt the yard, Er spilet the grass plot where I fell, An' sakes alive it hurt me; well, Tt would n't be'n so bad, you see, But he jest kep' a-hittin' me. An' I hit back an' kicked an' pawed, But 't seemed 't was mostly air I clawed, While Zekel used his science well A-makin' every motion tell. He punched an' hit, why, goodness lands, Seemed like he had a dozen hands. Well, afterwhile they stopped the fuss, An' some one kindly parted us. All beat an' cuffed an' clawed an' scratched, An' needin' both our faces patched, Each started hum a different way; An' what o' Liza, do you say, Why, Liza—little humbug—dern her, Why, she'd gone home with Hiram Turner.

whom duty called over the wave,
 * With himself communed: "Will my love be true