“That being the case I will take you, but it will be two or three days before I shall be ready to start.”
“Dat don’ make no diff’rence, so you starts some time. I can wait, I reckons, till yo’ am suited.”
“And you may have some hard work to perform in helping me.”
“I’m used to work; dat don’t scare me; jes’ tell me what yo’ want done and I’ll doot.”
“I recall something about your father being a great chief in Africa.”
“Dat’s de fac’,” replied Bunk proudly; “he am de greatest chief in de whole state; he’ll treat yo’ mighty well for fetching me ober to wisit him.”
How Bohunkus first gained the belief that his parent belonged to the native nobility of the Dark Continent is interesting of itself. When he was very small he was brought to Mr. Cecil Hartley, the well-to-do farmer who was a neighbor of Mr. Hamilton near Mootsport, by an aged negro who had been a slave in the South. He said the father of the urchin was the great chief Bohunkus Foozleum, who was at the head of a clan numbering thousands of warriors in Central Africa. The old man added that the Christian name of Bunk was Johnson, which, if a fact, is rather hard to understand. However, Bunk was turned over to the kind-hearted farmer and his wife, and was known as a bound boy, though the transfer was not accompanied by the usual legal steps.
The yarn of the old negro was repeated many times in the hearing of Bunk, and the Hartleys and Hamiltons often laughed over it. The gravity they assumed when telling the story to Bunk naturally caused him to believe it, and again naturally he formed the resolution that whenever a chance offered he would visit that hazy country and make a call upon his royal parent. Hence his quickness to seize what looked like a golden opportunity.
“You must understand one thing from the start,” said the Professor impressively.
“Yas, sir.”