"
Douglas laughed; and Mandy muttered, sullenly.
"Well, sah," continued Hasty, "I tote water fo' dem el'phants all
day long, an' when I cum roun' to see de circus, de gemmen won't
let me in. An' when I try to crawl under de tent, dey pulls me
out by de laigs an' beats me." He looked from one to the other
expecting sympathy.
"Serves you right," was Mandy's unfeeling reply. "If yo's so
anxious to be a-totin' water, jes' yo' come along outside and
tote some fo' Mandy."
"I can't do no mo' carryin', Mandy," protested Hasty. "I'se
hurted in mah arm."
"What hurt yo'?"
"Tiger."
"A tiger?" exclaimed the women in unison.
"Done chawed it mos' off," he declared, solemnly. "Deacon
Elverson, he seed it, an' he says I's hurt bad."
"Deacon Elverson?" cried the spinster. "Was Deacon Elverson at
the circus?"
"He was in de lot, a-tryin' to look in, same as me," Hasty
answered, innocently.
"You'd better take Hasty into the kitchen," said Douglas to
Mandy, with a dry smile; "he's talking too much for a wounded
man."
Mandy disappeared with the disgraced Hasty, advising him with
fine scorn "to get de tiger to chew off his laigs, so's he
wouldn't have to walk no mo'."
The women gazed at each other with lips closed tightly.
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