The Shadows Were As Numerous As Ever, The Rejected On The Increase, But
The Staff Was, Fortunately, Reduced To Three For The Time Being; Or,
Rather, Reduced To Two, And Increased Again To Three:
Judy had been
called "bush" on business, and the Macs having got out in good time.
Bertie's Nellie and Biddie had been obliged to resign and go with the
waggons, under protest, of course, leaving Rosy and Jimmy's Nellie
augmented by one of the most persistent of all the shadows - a tiny child
lubra, Bett-Bett.
Most of us still considered Bett-Bett one of the shadows but she
persisted that she was the mainstay of the staff. "Me all day dust 'im
paper, me round 'im up goat" she would say. "Me sit down all right".
She certainly excelled in "rounding-up goat," riding the old Billy like a
race-horse; and with Rosy filling the position of housemaid to
perfection, Jimmy's Nellie proving invaluable in her vigorous treatment
of the rejected and the wood-heap gossip filling in odd times, life so
far as it was dependent on black folk - was running on oiled wheels: the
house was clean and orderly, the garden flourished; and as the melons
grew apace, throwing out secondary leaves in defiance of Cheon's
prophecies, Billy Muck grew more and more enthusiastic, and, usurping the
position of Chairman of the Directors, he inspired the shareholders with
so much zeal that the prophecies were almost fulfilled through a surfeit
of watering.
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