He left Olive and her saddle at her own door, refusing her invitation to enter, saying that he would avail himself of her permission to come some other day to see her. And she cordially invited him to do so, for was not hospitality one of the commonest virtues of the prairie, and surely Perfection City must not be behindhand in the practice thereof?
CHAPTER VIII.
MR. PERSEUS.
When Olive got home, she was at first pleased to see that her husband had not come in, therefore he had not been made uneasy about her absence. Napoleon Pompey had caught Rebel and turned him into the pasture field, and was returning after that job when he met Olive near the hen-house. Napoleon Pompey grinned at her and remarked with relish: “Ole hoss, he done throw yer, den run clar ’way home.”
“No, he didn’t,” retorted Olive, indignant at this slur upon her equestrian skill, “I just got off to change the saddle, and he ran away from me.”
“Land!” said Napoleon Pompey, “an’ didn’t yer chuck yer reins roun’ yer arm?”
“No, I forgot to,” confessed Olive.
“Golly Ned!” said Napoleon Pompey with vast amusement.
Olive felt annoyed and inquired stiffly where her husband was.
“Ole man he done gone ter git ole hoe men’d up, den he gwine ter go to der ’Sumbly, he done eat supper ’ready. Me an’ you’uns got ter eat our’n now. Ole man done tol’ me.”
Napoleon Pompey meant no disrespect in speaking of Ezra as “ole man,” for the lad knew of only two titles to bestow on white men, one was “Mas’r” the other was “ole man.” Ezra had requested him not to use the expression Mas’r, which grated on his ears, and contained suggestions of servitude at variance with the ideas that prevailed at Perfection City. Napoleon Pompey was therefore obliged to fall back upon his one other title. Olive had been greatly shocked when she first heard her husband called “ole man,” but she was now used to the expression.