Then an oath of surprise popped from his throat. Skeeter had crumpled like a broken weed and had fallen face downward between the two squalling black babies.
Flournoy leaped forward and turned the prostrate man over on his back.
The negro had fainted.
Mrs. Flournoy appeared upon the side porch and quieted the babies by the simple process of giving each of them a piece of fried chicken.
Sheriff Flournoy as quickly restored Skeeter to consciousness by pouring cold water on his head and hot liquor down his throat.
Then leaving the babies to play under the electric light upon the porch, they conducted Skeeter to the kitchen and demanded explanations.
Nobody can beat a negro making explanations.
Skeeter’s statement was utterly untrue, but when we remember that the frightened darky considered that he had been guilty of the crime of kidnaping and was hopefully attempting to save himself from the penalty of death, all kind-hearted persons will forgive him. Most of us would stretch the blanket just a little if by doing so we could save our lives.
“It happened dis way, Marse John,” Skeeter said in a trembling voice. “I wus givin’ dem two little black babies a little outin’, an’ I decided I would fotch ’em up here an’ let ’em see whar I lived at. I’s proud of dat little cabin whut you-all gib me, even ef I do say it myse’f. I ain’t been feelin’ so powerful well sence ’bout supper-time to-night—it muss had been somepin I et—an’ passin’ de house I got to feelin’ powerful bad, an’ I decided I would git me some medicine. I knowed you-all warn’t at home, but de med’cine chist is right up-stairs whar it’s been fer twenty year, so I wint up dar to git me some linimint to rub on my misery. When I heerd the auto come in, I comed down to ax Ole Miss whut to take, an’ when I wus talkin’ to you on de po’ch somepin jes’ nachelly happened!”