“Dey is tryin’ to bu’st in de front door, Skeeter!” Dazzle told him. “Me an’ Hopey lef’ de kitchen door onlocked so Vinegar Atts could come in when he got back. Ef dem robbers goes aroun’ to de back side de house, dey’ll shore git in. Come up here right away an’ rescue us!”
A squealing interrogation sounded through the phone, and Dazzle smiled as she answered:
“Dar ain’t more’n seven robbers, Skeeter. But you kin lick ’em like you done in de army. Don’t git skeart!”
Although Skeeter’s reply was not intelligible, his shrieking voice, in reply, was audible even in the drawing-room, where Hopey sat shaking like a jelly-bowl with laughter.
“Come all alone by yo’se’f, Skeeter!” Dazzle implored him. “Us don’t want no crowd up here an’ no excitemunt. Don’t tell no white folks!”
Dazzle paused to listen to a few more excited squawkings from the telephone, then she commanded:
“Come by yo’se’f, an’ come in a hurry, befo’ I gits kilt! Fer Gawd’s sake, hurry, Skeeter!”
She left the telephone and entered the room where Hopey sat, smiling with great satisfaction.
“You done played a fool now!” Hopey told her.
Dazzle preened herself before a mirror in preparation for Skeeter’s arrival.