“Dem white mens is done killed a alligator whut’s got five foots an’ dey don’t know it,” he chuckled. “One foot is gone down de red lane of his gullet in a cute green box!”

Skeeter waited until the men returned to the house and then moved away.

“I knows whar dat rabbit-foot is,” he muttered. “But I ain’t gwine atter it. No Jonah in de whale fer me!”

Over in the negro settlement called Dirty-Six, Skeeter entered the Hen-Scratch saloon, saying nothing of the exciting scenes he had witnessed that night. But his mind dwelt upon them, as evidenced by a song which he sang again and again:

“Some folks do not believe

Dat a whale could Jonah receive

But dat don’t make my tale a-tall untrue.

Dar are whales on eve’y side

Wid deir mouths open wide

An’ you better look out or one will swallow you!”