It was wonderful, too, how one man could manage four great big horses, how he could guide them by merely touching one of the reins with the end of a finger; and then, when John Bell gave his long whip wide play, sending it through the air with a swish, and bringing it down as gently as a breath of wind on the back of the horse he desired to warn, Adelaide could have screamed with delight. There was a half-way house where the horses were changed, and when the coach stopped for that purpose, most of the passengers went into a near-by inn for their dinner. One or two of them, however, had brought a lunch along. One of them offered Adelaide a share, saying: "Won't you have some of my dinner, Sissy?" Her mother had called her many fond names, but nothing like that. John Bell glanced at her, and the expression on the little face opened his eyes. "No, I thank you," he replied, "she'll go snucks wi' me." She snuggled up to John Bell—"Did you hear him?" she asked; "he called me Sissy." "I heard him," said John Bell; "I heard every word, and just how he said it."
The lunch-basket that John Bell found under the seat was a wonder to see. It seemed to Adelaide that it held a whole bushel of fried chicken and biscuits with yellow butter on the inside of each. "Now," said John Bell, "there ain't enough vittles here for one, much less six." "Six!" cried Adelaide. "Yes'm; you and yourself, Mr. Sanders and his self, and me and myself." "Ef you're countin' me in," remarked Mr. Sanders, "jest add three more figgers to the multiplication table." "And then," said Adelaide very solemnly, "there's Cally-Lou and herself. Cally-Lou's herself is just big enough to be counted," she went on, "but Cally-Lou is bigger than I am. She's sitting right here by me; you could see her if you could turn your head quick enough. She dodges when she thinks anybody is going to look at her, because she is neither black nor white; she's a brown girl with straight black hair that wavies when you brush it."
"It seemed to Adelaide that it held a whole bushel of fried chicken and biscuits"
"Why, of course," said John Bell; "I'd know her anywhere. I was afraid, once or twice, that I'd put out her eye with my whip-lash."
"Oh, did you really see Cally-Lou?" cried Adelaide, with an ecstatic smile.
"Didn't you hear what he said about the vittles?" remarked Mr. Sanders. "Do you think he'd 'a' said that ef he'd 'a' seed only us three? I'll say this much for John Bell before I eat all his chicken an' biscuits—he's nuther stingy ner greedy. Now, then," he went on, "jest shet you eyes, an' grab, bekaze the one that grabs the quickest will git that big hind leg there. My goodness! I can shet my eyes an' see it!" Whereupon Mr. Sanders and John Bell closed their eyes, and reached into the basket, and one drew a back and a biscuit, and the other grabbed a neck and a biscuit. "We dassent shet our eyes any more," remarked Mr. Sanders, "bekaze if we do, Cally-Lou will git all the chicken!"