The Littlest Rebel | Page 6

think of the
skies falling. It is just such faithful friends as you who help me to fight
the best."
"Um?" said Uncle Billy promptly, not quite understanding.
"I mean a woman's battles, Uncle Billy--the waiting battles--that we

fight alone." Mrs. Gary rose to her feet and turned sadly away.
"Yas'm," agreed Uncle Billy. "I dunno what yo' talkin' 'bout but I spec'
you's right. Yas'm."
"Dear Uncle Billy," repeated Mrs. Gary, while her eyes filled with tears.
"The most truthful--the most _honest_--"
Mrs. Cary stopped and looked sharply at something lying on the ground
beside the steps. Then she turned and swept the old man with an
accusing glance which made him quail.
"_William!_" she said, in awful tones.
"Yas'm," replied Uncle Billy, feverishly.
"What's _that_?"
Uncle Billy immediately became the very picture of innocence and
ignorance. He looked everywhere but at the helpless rooster.
"What's what?" he asked. "Aw, dat? Why--why, dat ain' nothin' 'tall,
Miss Hallie. Dat's--dat's des a rooster. Yas'm."
Mrs. Cary came down from the steps and looked carefully at the
unfamiliar bird. No fear that she would not recognize it if it were hers.
"Whose is he?" she asked.
"You--you mean who he b'longs to?" queried Uncle Billy, fencing for
time in which to prepare a quasi-truthful reply. "He--he don' b'long to
nobody. He's his own rooster."
"William!" commanded Mrs. Cary, severely. "Look at me. Where did
you get him?"
Here was a situation which Uncle Billy knew must be handled
promptly, and he picked up the rooster and made an attempt to escape.
"Down on de low grouns--dis mornin'. Dat's right," he said, as he saw
dawning unbelief in his mistress' face. "Now you have to skuse me,

Miss Hallie. I got my wuck to do."
"One moment, William," interposed Mrs. Cary, completely
unconvinced. "You are sure he was on the low grounds?"
"Cose I is!" asseverated Uncle Billy, meanwhile backing farther away.
"What was he doing there?"
Uncle Billy stammered.
"He--he--he, he was trespassin', dat's what he was doin'--des natcherly
trespassin'."
At this marvel of testimony, Mrs. Cary's lips relaxed in a smile and she
warned him with an upraised finger.
"Be careful, Uncle Billy! Be careful."
"Yas, _mar'm_" chuckled the old man. "I had to be. I never would a-got
him! Oh, I's tellin' de trufe, Miss Hallie. Dis' here ol' sinner tooken
flewed off a boat what was comin' up de river. Yas'm. And he sure was
old enough to know better."
"And you saw him fly off the boat?"
"Oh, yas'm. I seed him. I seed him," and Uncle Billy floundered for a
moment, caught in his own trap. "Dat is, not wid my own eyes. But I
see him settin' in de woods, lookin' dat lonesome and losted like, I felt
real sorry for him. Yas'm," and to prove his deep sympathy for the
unfortunate bird he stroked its breast lovingly.
Mrs. Cary turned away to hide her laughter. "How did you catch him?"
"How?" repeated Uncle Billy, while his ancient mind worked with
unusual rapidity. "I got down on all fo's in the thick weeds, an' cluk like
a hen. An' den ol' Mr. Rooster, he came 'long over to see ef I done laid
an aig--an' I des reach right out an' take him home to de Lawd."

"Oh, Uncle Billy," his mistress laughed. "I'm afraid you're incorrigible.
It's a dreadful thing to doubt one's very dinner. Isn't it?"
"Yas'm. An' I was des 'bout to say ef you an' Miss Virgie kin worry
down de white meat, maybe den dis here bird 'll kinder git eben wid me
when I tackle his drum sticks. Yas'm," and with a final chuckle of joy
over his success the old man hobbled quickly away in the direction of
the kitchen.
Mrs. Cary, still smiling, went back to play Mrs. Fatima to a dusky
moss-covered Blue Beard.
"Oh goody, goody, here is Mrs. Fatima again!" and Virgie's dancing
feet seemed hardly to touch the ground. "We've just finished building
the castle. Look!" She pointed proudly to a square of twigs and leaves
around the garden seat. "Come on, Sally Ann. We can play it now and
use Mamma's keys."
"Wait dar! Whar'd I put my s'wode?" And Sally Ann snatched up her
dangerous weapon and thrust it into a rope around her waist. "Now I'se
ready fo' killin' folks."
"But we have to begin where Blue Beard goes away on a journey,"
Virgie cried. "Susan Jemima, you sit there on the bench and clap your
hands. Get up, Mamma. Go ahead, Sally Ann!"
"'Ooman," said Sally Ann, strutting up to her mistress and frowning
terribly. "I'se gwine away fer a night an' a day. Dese yere is de keys to
de castle."
"Yes, sir," was the meek response.
Sally Ann Blue Beard