“No; we were just going to prepare it. Here he comes!”
At this moment, George Inwood made his appearance above ground, and he greeted the negro with great gladness. The latter soon gave an account of his pursuit and capture of the horses, and his safe return with them.
“You have done very well, Jim, especially when we remember that you had no gun with you. There are few men who would have dared to do so, even when fully armed.”
“But, dat ain’t all,” added the colored man, as he heaved a great sigh, “I seen de most awfulest ting you ever heard tell on.”
In answer to their anxious inquiry, he gave what has already been given by us, winding up with the declaration:
“An’ when I looked back de last time, what do you ’spose I seen? Why, I seen dat island rise up, flap its wings, an’ fly away!”
“There, Jim, that’s a little too much,” laughed the elder Inwood.
“When it flapped its wings, didn’t it also crow?” asked Edwin, whose interest in the narrative was turned into equally intense amusement at this culmination.
“You folks can laugh,” retorted Jim, indignantly, “but wait till you see what I did, an’ de shivers will run all ober you.”