“We dine in Washington this evening, Amos. We won’t bother about it until then. Besides, I may not sell my big invention this evening and we’ve got to string out our $2.”
“Dar’s de chicken we done pay two bits fo’.”
Morey reached down, caught hold of the stiffened fowl and threw it on the roadside.
“It’s too old to eat, Amos. Don’t you ever get enough food? We just had breakfast. I’ll buy you a good dinner. Now shut up.”
“One aigg an’ a piece o’ bacon yo’ couldn’ grease a saw wid! Dat ain’t no breakfus’.”
“Amos!” exclaimed Morey sharply. “If you don’t quit bothering me about eating I’ll ask old man Keyhole tonight where he got that knife. I reckon he knows.”
“Well ef yo’ kin stan’ it, I kin. But I certainly is pow’ful hongry.”
There was a little halt at noon to refresh Betty with water and a nibble of grass, during which time Morey washed his face and hands in the creek by the side of which they had stopped. Amos had returned to his old clothes, but Morey now arranged a compromise costume for him, discarding the pin, tie and hat and making him presentable in his best trousers, shoes and white shirt.
The smoke of Washington was already in sight. By four o’clock the suburban farms had been reached and Amos saw for the first time the environs of a city. The smart, up-to-date homes bewildered him and he drank all in with wide eyes. They were on the highway that leads into Alexandria and Morey was beginning to worry. Just what he was to do now that he had reached the city he did not know. He could not figure out what he and his companion were to attempt first. He would cross the Potomac, enter the city and, he had almost decided, stop at the first stable he could find and sell Betty. This went pretty hard with him, but it was easier than facing the big city with a helpless colored boy on his hands and only $1.88 in his pocket. With the few dollars that he might get by this means they would find a cheap boarding house and prepare to look up his friend, Lieutenant Purcell. If this required several days or his funds ran out while he was engaged in his negotiations he had one well-defined idea. He would find a job for Amos, some simple labor at which the boy could make enough to keep both going until fortune turned with them.