The Agent In Charge Was Not At Home, And His Steward-Boy
Said, "Massa Live For Mr. B.'s House.
" "Go tell him I live for come
from," etc., said I, and "I fit for want place for my men.
" I had
nothing to write on, or with, and I thought the steward-boy could
carry this little message to its destination without dropping any of
it, as Mr. B.'s house was close by; but I was wrong. Off he went,
and soon returned with the note I here give a copy of: -
"DEAR OLD MAN,
"You must be in a deuce of a mess after the tornado. Just help
yourself to a set of my dry things. The shirts are in the bottom
drawer, the trousers are in the box under the bed, and then come
over here to the sing-song. My leg is dickey or I'd come across. -
Yours," etc.
Had there been any smelling salts or sal volatile in this
subdivision of the Ethiopian region, I should have forthwith fainted
on reading this, but I well knew there was not, so I blushed until
the steam from my soaking clothes (for I truly was "in a deuce of a
mess") went up in a cloud and then, just as I was, I went "across"
and appeared before the author of that awful note. When he came
round, he said it had taken seven years' growth out of him, and was
intensely apologetic. I remarked it had very nearly taken thirty
years' growth out of me, and he said the steward-boy had merely
informed him that "White man live for come from X," a place where he
knew there was another factory belonging to his firm, and he
naturally thought it was the agent from X who had come across.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 463 of 705
Words from 127905 to 128209
of 194943
