Nascent Drama

[The Dork Lord]

Next day was auction day. About broad day in the morning the king and the duke come up in the garret and woke me up, and I see by their look that there was trouble. The king says:

 

[The Dork Lord]

"Was you in my room night before last?"

 

[The Dork Lord]

"No, your majesty" -- which was the way I always called him when nobody but our gang warn't around.

 

[The Dork Lord]

"Was you in there yisterday er last night?"

 

[The Dork Lord]

"No, your majesty."

 

[The Dork Lord]

"Honor bright, now -- no lies."

 

[The Dork Lord]

"Honor bright, your majesty, I'm telling you the truth. I hain't been a-near your room since Miss Mary Jane took you and the duke and showed it to you."

 

[The Dork Lord]

The duke says:

"Have you seen anybody else go in there?"

 

[The Dork Lord]

"No, your grace, not as I remember, I believe."

"Stop and think."

 

[The Dork Lord]

I studied awhile and see my chance; then I says:

 

[The Dork Lord]

"Well, I see the niggers go in there several times."

 

[The Dork Lord]

Both of them gave a little jump, and looked like they hadn't ever expected it, and then like they had. Then the duke says:

 

[The Dork Lord]

"What, all of them?"

 

[The Dork Lord]

"No -- leastways, not all at once -- that is, I don't think I ever see them all come out at once but just one time."

 

[The Dork Lord]

"Hello! When was that?"

 

[The Dork Lord]

"It was the day we had the funeral. In the morning. It warn't early, because I overslept. I was just starting down the ladder, and I see them."

 

[The Dork Lord]

"Well, go on, go on! What did they do? How'd they act?"

 

[The Dork Lord]

"They didn't do nothing. And they didn't act anyway much, as fur as I see. They tiptoed away; so I seen, easy enough, that they'd shoved in there to do up your majesty's room, or something, s'posing you was up; and found you warn't up, and so they was hoping to slide out of the way of trouble without waking you up, if they hadn't already waked you up."

 

[The Dork Lord]

"Great guns, this is a go!" says the king; and both of them looked pretty sick and tolerable silly. They stood there a-thinking and scratching their heads a minute, and the duke he bust into a kind of a little raspy chuckle, and says:

 

[The Dork Lord]

"It does beat all how neat the niggers played their hand. They let on to be sorry they was going out of this region! And I believed they was sorry, and so did you, and so did everybody. Don't ever tell me any more that a nigger ain't got any histrionic talent. Why, the way they played that thing it would fool anybody. In my opinion, there's a fortune in 'em. If I had capital and a theater, I wouldn't want a better lay-out than that -- and here we've gone and sold 'em for a song. Yes, and ain't privileged to sing the song yet. Say, where IS that song -- that draft?"