And Skeeter did not have a key to open them again!
Then Tella Tandy did a most astounding thing—she sprang to her feet with a loud, shrill scream!
Everybody turned and looked at her with astonishment—Skeeter Butts most astonished of all.
“Whut you mean by sayin’ dat to me, Skeeter Butts?” she whooped. “You is a low-down nigger to insult a lady like dat! Oh, my Gawd!”
Tella put her hands over her face and staggered from the stage, crying aloud like a baby.
Skeeter Butt’s jaw dropped down and he gaped like an idiot—he had not said a word or done a thing!
He was so startled by the woman’s accusation and her dramatic exit that when he tried to speak and deny his guilt he stammered and spluttered and looked guiltier than ever.
“Whut you mean by insultin’ my wife, you low-down animated outrage?” Deo Diddle howled, approaching Skeeter with blood in his eye.
“I—I—didn’t—say—nothin’!” Skeeter stammered.
“Kill him! Put him out! Bust him one in de jaw!” the men in the audience roared, as they listened to the heart-rending wails of the caterwauling Tella Tandy somewhere in the wings.