oung Seeunkie's
scraped too clean for dat, an' so de ole daddy has to turn round an'
look at him. `An' when's dis tree goin' to ha' some more honey on it?'
ses he.
"`Well, it's of a mawnin' de honey's out,' ses Seeunkie. `Dere has to
be de sun on it all day, an' den at night de stuff runs. To-morro'
mawnin's de time den.'
"`A' right,' ses ole daddy. `To-morro' mawnin' you leave dis tree alone
till I comes. Don't you dah to touch it 'fore I sees it. Den we'll
see,' ses he.
"Well, p'r'aps you tink dat 'ud set young Seeunkie to studyin' hard.
But not him; he yust stalks back wid his ole daddy, hands in pockets an'
mouf in a whistle, like a location Kaffir wid new yalla boots on. It
ain't no sort o' trouble to him to plan skellum; it yust come nat'ral to
him.
"When dey gets home young Seeunkie grins at his mammy, but Oom Ratel he
goes out agen on business. An dis time he takes de honey sack wid him,
for he's got a plan an' he's yust a-startin' to work it. But he hain't
got nawtin sure yet to say to his missis one way or anoder as he goes
out. She has. She ses it too. `Didn't I tole you!' ses she.
"Next mawnin' Oom Ratel gets all his goin's out done 'fore breakfas', so
as he'll be ready for dis honey tree first ting ahter it. But young
Seeunkie he goes out too on his own account, on'y he first cuts anoder
chunk o' honey out of his ole daddy's goatskin under de bed, an' takes
dat wid him, an' as soon as he gets to de young mimosa he scrapes de gum
spots clean agen an' daubs 'em all fresh wid honey. Den he sneaks home
an' smiles to hisse'f all troo breakfas' time.
"Well, ahter breakfas' Oom Ratel he ses. `Come on,' an' de young
Seeunkie he ses, `A' right,' an' off dey pops down to de honey-gum tree.
Sure enough, dere's de honey an' dere's de ole daddy a-tastin' it an'
a-sayin' what mighty good stuff it is.
"`Well,' ses de young fella, `I tole you all de time, but you wouldn't
b'lieve me. An' now what?' ses he.
"`Oh, now everytin's all right,' ses de ole daddy grinnin'. `An' here
you is, Seeunkie, I's brought dis,' ses he, pullin' out a big new
goatskin sack. `You scrape off all dat honey-gum now onto a big leaf
for your ole daddy to eat an' den you can stop here wid dis sack an'
keep on scrapin' every mawnin' till you gets it full.'
"`Oh, but,' ses young Seeunkie, `it'll take so long to fill dat!'
"`Oh, dat's all right,' ses his ole daddy, all a-smilin'. `In de
daytime you can dig your
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