"Where have you been?" Highboy demanded when she had shut the door. "You've been looked for everywhere."
Hortense was too sleepy to reply, and in the morning no one questioned her, for Uncle Jonah had a sorry tale to tell of the horses, who lay in their stalls too tired to move, their manes and tails in elflocks, and their flanks mud stained.
"Dey's hoodooed," said Uncle Jonah, shaking his head.
To this, Grandfather made no answer but looked puzzled, and Hortense, who could have told him how it all happened, didn't know how to begin; so said nothing.
Chapter IX
"Tell us a story about a hoodoo, Uncle Jonah,"—
Andy had driven Tom and Jerry in from the upper pasture for Uncle Jonah, who was forced to admit that Andy wasn't so bad a boy as he had thought. It seemed a good time, therefore, to ask Uncle Jonah about the hoodoo.
"What is the hoodoo, Uncle Jonah?" Hortense asked.
"How come yo' 'quire 'bout dat?" Uncle Jonah asked. "Ah dunno nuffin' 'bout no hoodoo."