“I understand.� Black Mayo spared Dick a public explanation. “Well, come when you can. I’ll bring you one of my young birds to-morrow, to turn loose for a trial flight.�
“Oh, thank you, Cousin Mayo!�
Mr. Smith sidled to the door and looked after Mr. Osborne, with a malignant scowl.
“He, the one you call ‘Black Mayo,’ is—isn’t he queer?� he said to Jake Andrews and Mac Hight, who were sitting on the porch.
“What do you mean?� asked Jake Andrews.
“He takes up for the Germans; says they are such good, kind people and he loves them. It sounds to me strange to hear a man call himself now a friend of the German peoples.�
“Shucks! Black Mayo ain’t said that; is he, Mr. Tavis?� Jake appealed to the old man who now came shuffling out on the porch.
“Yes, he did,� said Mr. Tavis. “He explained at it somehow; but he certainly said he loved them Germans that are tearing the world to pieces over yonder.�
“And here, too,� said Jake. “Ain’t they been blowing up railroad bridges, and factories, and public buildings? Why, they’ve got soldiers guarding the warehouses at South City; near us as that!�
“That’s what South City gets for being on the railroad where all sorts of folks go traipsing up and down,� said Mr. Tavis. “I stand to what I’ve always said, I’m glad the railroad don’t come a-nigh The Village.�