Page:The land of enchantment (1907, Cassell).djvu/116

 some palm trees on the distant horizon—but was it really an o-a-sisor only one of these here silly my-rages? The niggers seemed to have no doubt about its being the real article, and were flabbergasted to that extent that their teeth were all of a chatter. To hearten them up I proposed a game at “Aunt Sally, three shies a penny,” with the cocoanuts we'd saved, and that pulled them together again.

“By-and-by we got near to the o-a-sis, and, peeping through the thick grass, lo and behold, there were the heathen a-doing a double shuffle, likewise a-snapping their fingers and singing:

“Why, Ben,” cried Charlie excitedly, “could the Cuffee-what-d’ye-call’ems talk English?”

“Bless your innocent heart, Master Charles, no, but I’ve given you to the best of my recollection the sense or the nonsense of their jabber.”

“But what did they mean, Ben, about your not going away, and how did they know you were there?”

“Well, now, Master Charles, you must ask me another. They’d heard tell, of course, as how there was an officer a-coming. As to their meaning, I think it was that the Cuffeecocoites would soon be politely asking of each other, ‘Will you prefer roast or boiled Benjamin, my brother?’—or sister, as the case might be.”

“Oh, Ben!” exclaimed Charlie, with a shudder. “How very dreadful!”