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A young man was coming down the path. Was that 'Rastus? Could that be her 'Rastus, that gorgeous creature with the shiny shoes and the nobby suit and the carelessly-swung cane? But he was knocking at her door, and she opened it and took him into her arms. "Why, howdy, honey, howdy; hit do beat all to see you agin, a great big, grown-up man. You're lookin' des' lak one o' de big folks up in town."
She told me to whistle whenever I wanted a thing done, and Rastus, or Lindy, or Cipo, or Ned would come on a run. That's sort o' makin' bird-dogs out o' two-legged creatures, but I kind o' like it. But, mind you, Alf, don't whistle for 'em inside the house. You will find a fancy rope with a tassel on the end of it in every room. Give it a light tug an' let it loose. Thar, I see Cipo now.
When I discovered from your brother that you was riding with Tom Dixon the day Buck was shot, and when I found out from 'Rastus that the gun that did the shooting was Dixon's, I surely smelt a mouse. Come to mill the thing out, I knew you led Buck's boys off on a blind trail, while the real coyote hunted cover." "He isn't a coyote," she objected.
Old 'Rastus he had captivated instanter by his critical commendation of the really superb wine which she had, whimsically, it must be confessed, and to the secret indignation of the old darkey, ordered served. 'Rastus had mumbled something about the casting of pearls, but he melted instantly at Douglass's evident appreciation.
Her white teeth flashed in a smile as she talked, but the eyes she kept on the man's face had a curious look of wonder in them. "Yuh look well, honey," she said, finally, "an' yit yuh doan look well. How come dat? You-all ain' got nuffin' tuh trouble yuh, is yuh?" 'Rastus hurriedly assured her that he had not.
"There are other reasons why he's boss," grunted the engine tender. "Mr. Reade has nerve, but he also has brains in his head. Any man with brains and the sense to use 'em goes to the top, while I stay down a good deal lower, and you, Rastus, are still lower." "Ah reckon Ah got a two-bit hat on top o' only two cents' wo'th o' brains, Misto Conlon," grinned the darkey.
O' co'se, being' in a law office is des as pervidin', but somehow hit do seem mo' worl'y." "Didn't I tell you de preachahs is ez worldly ez anybody else?" "Yes, yes, dat's right, but den 'Rastus, he had de eddication, fo' he had gone thoo de Third Readah." Just then the gate creaked, and a little brown-faced girl, with large, mild eyes, pushed open the door and came shyly in.
"WHAT? 'Rastus Young PAID you?" "Well, I don't know's he paid it, exactly. He borrowed the dollar of one of those summer fellers over at Cahoon's boardin' house and he was tellin' Ab Bacheldor about it at the corner by the post-office. Ab, naturally, didn't believe any sane man would lend Rastus anything, so he wanted proof.
"Why, dey look as tame as elingfants in de Zoo," protested the colored man, as he gazed at the penguins, who in turn gazed back at him with their beady black eyes. "Yes, and ordinarily they are, but in the breeding season they get savage if molested, although it is safe enough to walk among them." "Huh," grunted Rastus to himself; "dis yer perfusser am a fusser fer sho.
"But what about the chicken thief?" "Oh, Eradicate attended to his second cousin. He went to see him, showed him a print from the film, and gave him to understand that he'd be blown up with dynamite, or kicked by Boomerang, if he ever came around here again, and so Samuel 'Rastus Washington Jackson Johnson will be careful about visiting strange chicken coops, after this." "I believe you, Tom.
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