“Not no more to-night,” Skeeter said. “Dar’s a mule runnin’ loose in dis yard as big as a battleship. I butted him like a torpedo.”
“Whut happened?” Dazzle asked.
“I wus Jinxed,” Skeeter said simply. “Less go home.”
XIV
THE ALLIGATOR
Jinx became the greatest plaything that Org and Little Bit possessed. He could not fatten, but under the care and treatment he received he acquired a little more interest in life, and showed quite a fondness for his youthful owner.
Gaitskill laughed, and decided that the mule would keep Org out of mischief, which would justify the cost of its keep. Tickfall smiled at the sight of a little boy sitting on a big saddle while a diminutive black boy sat behind him, proud of his position and waving a greeting to all his black friends as he passed. Org and Little Bit would not have swapped Jinx for an automobile.
“A automobile gits out of fix,” Little Bit said as they discussed this one day. “When she stops nothin’ kin make her go. Ef somepin gits de matter wid it, nobody knows whut ails her.”
“But this mule is different,” Org said proudly. “I like something that wags its tail.”
“Dis hay-burner suits me,” Little Bit agreed.
They found to their delight that Jinx was thoroughly familiar with that great jungle called the Little Moccasin Swamp. The boys could ride out to that swamp upon Jinx and turn into any path which led into the jungle. The mule would carry them for miles along the winding animal trails, and then to their surprise they would find themselves in the highway again. They explored recesses in that swamp which they could never have reached without the mule, and they were never uneasy about losing their way.