His ignorance was speedily dispelled when from the darkness behind them came several agonizing calls for help, “Hi dar, don’t leave me! Don’t leave me! Wait! Wait dar!”
As the boys glanced behind them they saw the old man running swiftly toward them and making even better time than when he had departed from the old Meeker House.
Obediently George stopped the automobile and in a moment Uncle Sim, breathless and excited, climbed into the seat.
“There’s one thing I don’t understand, Uncle Sim,” said George, laughing as he spoke.
“Yas, suh. Yas, suh,” responded the negro. “Dat’s jes’ de way I feel.”
“What I can’t understand,” said George, “is why it is so hard for you to walk when you are working around the place and it’s so easy for you to run when you have been left behind.”
“Dat’s so. Yas, suh,” answered the negro. “I jes’ cain’t explain dat mahself.”
Apparently George was the only member of the party that was willing to talk and even he soon lost his desire as few responses were made to his various suggestions.
Uncle Sim, however, with chattering teeth and trembling voice, frequently expressed his displeasure over the attempt of the boys to belittle the sounds which had come from the old Meeker House.
At last Uncle Sim declared solemnly, “I jes’ made up my mind how dat ar automobile was taken.”