Then he turned to the players and howled:
“I done got yo’ mascop out in front, Prince! Look at dis pretty nigger gal an’ pick up a brave heart! Set yo’ eye on Coco and do yo’ durndest! Don’t let nothin’ skeer you, Prince, fer good luck’s done busted right in yo’ face!”
Prince Total, thus admonished, retired the Sawtown nine with only three pitched balls. Each batter knocked a fly which was caught in the field.
The Tickfall nine was suddenly jubilant. Four hundred Tickfall fans bellowed with joy. Skeeter Butts ran to Coco Ferret, threw his arms around her, an’ giggled:
“Oh, you little, fat mascop! You done bust de bad luck! Eve’y nigger in dis town loves you like a brudder—an’ me, you done winned my heart ferever an’ ever!”
When the Tickfall team came in to bat, Hitch Diamond puffed through the crowd like a steam-engine and started a row.
“Whut de debbil you mean by throwin’ dis game, Figger?” he howled in irate tones. “Whut de trouble wid yo’ head? Don’t you know you is losin’ yo’ own good money?”
“Trouble?” Figger Bush bawled. “Dem Sawtown niggers done put a hoodoo sign on me!”
“How come?” Hitch asked in a changed tone.