Accordingly, when the questions were put to the school, he answered boldly and quickly to many of them, and with an accuracy that astonished his fellow scholars.
"How did you learn the answers to those questions—you can't read?" said
Miss Cass.
"Yes, but I can read," answered Charlie, with a merry twinkle in his eye.
"Why didn't you tell me so before?" she asked.
"Because you didn't ask me," he replied, suppressing a grin.
This was true enough, so Miss Cass, having nothing farther to say, sat and listened, whilst he answered the numerous and sometimes difficult questions addressed to the scholars.
Not so, Aunt Comfort. She could not restrain her admiration of this display of talent on the part of one of her despised race; she was continually breaking out with expressions of wonder and applause. "Jis' hear dat—massy on us—only jis' listen to de chile," said she, "talks jis' de same as if he was white. Why, boy, where you learn all dat?"
"Across the Red Sea," cried Charlie, in answer to a question from the desk of the superintendent.
"'Cross de Red Sea! Umph, chile, you been dere?" asked Aunt Comfort, with a face full of wonder.
"What did you say?" asked Charlie, whose attention had been arrested by the last question.