“I don’t know—sir.”
“You don’t know? What did you come here for?”
“To learn, sir.”
“Good. Can you sing?”
“N-no, sir.”
“All right. Then go ahead and sing.”
“I can’t.”
“You’ve got to.” The boy looked distressedly around the circle of amused faces. “What—what shall I sing?” he asked.
“Anything,” answered Hopkins. “Only get at it.”
“Do you know ‘Rock-a-bye, Baby’?” asked Prentiss, scoring a laugh from the audience. The boy shook his head.