"I think he were a Frenchman," spoke Eradicate. "I done didn't see him eat no frogs' laigs, but he smoked a cigarette dat had a funny smell, and he suah was monstrous polite. He suah was a Frenchman. I think."
Tom and Ned laughed at Eradicate's description of the man, but Tom's face was soon grave again.
"Tell us more about him, Rad," he suggested. "Did he seem especially interested in the fire?"
"No, sah, Massa Tom, he seemed laik he was more special interested in mah mule, Boomerang. He done asted how long I had him, an' how much I wanted fo' him, an' how old he was."
"But every once in a while he put in some question about the fire, or about our shops, didn't he, Rad?" Tom wanted to know.
The colored man scratched his kinky head, and glanced with a queer look at Tom.
"How yo' all done guess dat?" he asked.
"Answer my question," insisted Tom.
"Yes, sah, he done did ask about yo', and de wuks, ebery now and den," Rad confessed. "But how yo' all knowed dat, Massa Tom, when I were a-tellin' yo' all about him astin' fo' mah mule, done gets me—dat's what it suah does."
"Never mind, Rad. He asked questions about the plant, that's all I want to know. But you didn't tell him much, did you?"