Thus admonished, Skeeter began:
“‘Ef yo’ lef’ eye-brow be visited wid a tantalizin’ itchin’, be as-sured dat you are goin’ to look upon a painful sight—de corp’ of a valued frien’.”
Hitch Diamond sprang to his feet, while every negro gazed upon him with fearsome curiosity, at the same time, unconsciously reaching up and scratching their left eyebrows!
“Ef you niggers ain’t got no real objections, I’ll git out from under dis tree,” Hitch said in pitiful tones. “Dis tree is been here ’bout a millyum years, an’ I ’speck it’s gittin’ ready to fall over.”
“Dat’d shore wuck a bad accidunt on me,” Figger remarked as he moved to the middle of the road.
“Let Skeeter read some mo’ signs!” Prince Total howled as he walked out and squatted in the middle of the road like a frog. “Mebbe us kin find somepin dat’ll bust Hitch’s luck.”
“‘When you are af-fec-ted by itchin’ on de spine of yo’ back,’” Skeeter read, “‘be assured dat yo’se’f or some one near-ly re-lat-ed to you is about to suffer a violent death!’”
“My Gawd!” Vinegar Atts bawled.
There was silence for a quarter of an hour, while fear gripped the hearts of the negroes with iron fingers and squeezed out all hope, as we crush the water from a sponge.
Vinegar Atts was breathing like the exhaust of a steam engine.