"Well, you sho is a man, if you is des a boy. You sho is a cap'n. Dey ought to call you 'Cap'n Ted.'" The young negro's wonder and admiration were manifest.
"That's very nice of you, July," stammered Ted, embarrassed and blushing.
"You sho did talk up to dem white mens. You didn't leave 'em a leg to stand on."
"How about you?" asked Ted, with a twinkle in his eye. "Have you got any more legs than they have?"
July guffawed loudly, enjoying the joke at his own expense. "Who, me?" he laughed again. "I's ready to go to de waw if dey promus to put me where dem Germans can't p'int a gun at me."
Ted and Hubert laughed heartily, vastly amused, and the latter said: "Don't you think all slackers are as ready as that?"
"I got sump'n to tell you," said July, hastening to change an embarrassing subject. "Dem young white mens hole a meetin' dis mawnin' and dey voted on what to do about you boys. I couldn't hear much o' dey talk, but I think dey voted Mr. Buck Hardy down."
"But I thought you said he was the 'cock of the walk,' and he certainly stood them all down last night," commented Ted.
"He sho is de cock o' de walk when it come to fightin'," said July, "but when it come to votin' he ain't got but one vote. Hush! H-yuh he is now."
Buck Hardy had come out of the woods, and, pausing at the edge of the clearing, he now called Ted to him.