"The black man!" cried Billy. "What black man, my dear?"
"Don't you know him? He's had me ever so long."
Billy was puzzled. "A black man had you?" he repeated. "Why you don't mean your uncle, do you?"
"Yes," she said, "that's him, and he says if I don't call him 'uncle' he'll cut off my big toe!"
Billy Warlock jumped upon his feet like a shot. "The devil he did!" he cried. "I'll punch his head for that!"
"And his knife has got six cutters in it!"
"I guess he was only funning," said Billy. "He didn't mean it."
"That's what he said," she insisted.
"Yes, my dear, but he didn't mean it. He was joking."
"That's what he said!" Her accent was very positive, and she added as if conning it over, "His knife had six cutters."