“I’m awful ’fraid,” he moaned, drooping.
Jinnie feared he was going to have another fainting spell. To ward it off, she said firmly: 324
“Bobbie, you want to see Lafe, don’t you?”
“S’awful much,” groaned Bobbie.
“Then don’t hold your breath.” She saw him stagger, and grasping him, cried out “Breathe, Bobbie, breathe! We’re going to Peggy.”
Bobbie began to breathe naturally, and a beatific smile touched the corners of his lips.
“I got so many stars to-day, Jinnie,” he quavered, “one slipped right down my throat.”
“But you mustn’t be scared again, Bobbie! If we stay, the black man’ll come back and shake you again and take us to some place that’ll make us both sick. You just keep on praying, and I will, too.... Now, then, I’m going out, and when I say, ‘Ready,’ you crawl after me.”
“What’s that noise?” shivered Bobbie, clutching Happy Pete.
“It’s water,” answered Jinnie, “water in the gorge.”