[CHAPTER XVIII—SWEPT INTO A SWAMP]
“Who threw you and Captain Joe into the river, up north?” demanded Jule. “Wake up and tell us what’s the matter with you. What were those people chasing you for?”
Mose only sat up on deck and rolled his eyes as the Rambler increased the distance between the pursuers and himself. Seeing that he was now beyond their reach, he arose and leaned over the gunwale and made funny insulting faces at them.
“What does he mean?” asked Jule, turning to Clay. “Who’s chasing him?”
“Don’t you remember how Sam, the Robber, the fellow who, with Red, captured the Rambler in the bayou, threw the boy and the dog out, and how they lay in the grounds at the old house until dusk and then came to your rescue?” asked Clay. “You must have a poor memory, I think.”
“I didn’t know whether it was Red or Sam who threw him in,” Jule explained.
“So that’s Sam over there with the negroes?” questioned Alex. “What did you do to them, Mose? Where did you go last night? What do you mean by forming an exploring expedition all by yourself and having all the fun?”
“Ah went ’shore to hear de singin’,” the boy replied, “an’ dey cotch me stealin’ de yaller leg chicken, an’ say de’s goin’ to beat dis coon up plenty!”
“You swam all that way to steal a chicken?” asked Jule. “Was it cooked?”
“Yaller leg chicken!” insisted the boy.