Call off yer dogs, ef yer please, an' come an'
'scort us in as yer promised. H'yer we is--Sally an' me an' Bob
an' Mariar an' Bill an' Jim an' Sally junior--an' fo' God I can't
get fru de roll-call alone. Sally, you jest interduce Cousin Nimbus
ter de rest ob dis family, will yer?"
Sure enough, on coming to the gate, Nimbus found Berry and Sally
there with their numerous progeny, several bundles of clothing and
a few household wares.
"Why, what does dis mean, Berry?" he asked.
"Mean? Yah, yah!" said the mercurial Berry. "Wal now, ain't dat
cool? H'yer he axes me ter come ter his house jest ez soon ez ever
Marse Granville routs us offen his plantation, an' ez soon's ever
we comes he wants ter know what it means! How's dat fer cousinin',
eh? Now don't yer cry, Sally Ann. Jes yer wait till I tell Cousin
Nimbus de circumstanshuels an' see ef he don't ax us inside de
gate."
"Oh, Cousin Nimbus," said Sally, weeping piteously, "don't yer
go ter fault us now--don't please. Hit warn't our fault at all;
leastways we didn't mean it so. I did tell Berry he'd better stay
an' du what Marse Sykes wanted him ter, 'stead of comin' tu der
meetin', an' my mind misgive me all day kase he didn't. But I didn't
look for no sech bad luck as we've hed."
"Come in, come in, gal," said Nimbus, soothingly, as he opened the
gate, "an' we'll talk it all ober in de mornin'.
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