Drawn by E. W. Kemble.
Skeeter went down the street at full speed.
“I shore will,” the woman said fervently.
“Figger,” Skeeter commanded, “you take sister Diddle over to de Halfacre an’ tell ole sister Ginny Chew to keep her till I come atter her to-night. Den you come right back to dis saloom, an’ you an’ me will fix up our plans fer de evenin’ pufformance.”
The day passed slowly for Skeeter Butts, and when the night came he occupied a seat in the front row in the hall directly in the center of the stage, with Figger Bush sitting beside him.
None of the performance interested Skeeter until Deo Diddle announced that he was now ready to accomplish the “box escape.” He challenged the negroes to provide a pine box in which he would be securely nailed and roped up, first being handcuffed and shackled in any way the negroes chose. Then he proposed to escape, leaving the box and the ropes intact.
When the committee climbed upon the stage, Skeeter did not join them. He handed a tiny vial of liquid to Figger Bush and said:
“Now, Figger, you go up dar an’ do exackly whut I told you!”
Deo Diddle was carefully handcuffed, manacled, chained, and bound by the grinning, laughing negroes; then he was lifted up and lowered carefully into the box.