Org had no particular love for religious instruction. All the time that he was trying to learn a sufficient portion of that day’s lesson to satisfy his teacher, he was thinking of a buzzard’s nest which Little Bit had told him about, a buzzard’s nest which contained two baby buzzards, both of them white as snow. If that buzzard’s nest had been concealed2 in some Sunday-school book—but Org never found anything interesting in a Sunday-school book. What little he knew of that day’s portion of the Scripture3 had been imparted to him by the laborious4 efforts of his sister, and he was now walking down the hill toward the church, mumbling5 his newly acquired information to himself.
“Whar you gwine, Marse Org?”
“Sunday-school. Come and go with me.”
“Ain’t fitten,” Little Bit giggled6. “A little black coon like me ain’t got no place in a white chu’ch. Excusin’ dat, I janitors7 in a saloon, an’ Sunday-schools ain’t made fer such.”
“I’ll tell you all I know about the lesson,” Org urged. “Listen: Methusalem—oldest man ever was: nine hundred and sixty-nine years old—was not, for God took him—gathered to his fathers——”
“How ole you say he wus gwine on when he died?” Little Bit asked.
“Nine hundred and sixty-nine years.”
“Whoop-ee! Whut did de ole gizzard die of when he died?”
“I dunno,” Org replied. “He died of smoking cigarettes, I reckon. If you go with me, we’ll ask the teacher.”
“I mought stan’ outside behime de chu’ch while you axed,” Little Bit said doubtfully. “Who am dis here teacher?”
“Captain Kerley Kerlerac.”
“I ain’t gwine to no Sonday-school to ax my boss nothin’,” Little Bit said positively8. “Dat white man don’t ’low no niggers to pesticate him wid ’terrogations. I knows!”
Org was not willing to part with his companion. He could have a great deal more fun with Little Bit than he could contemplating9 the career of a man who had lived nearly a thousand years and had been dead for several thousand more. Besides, he was a little skeptical10 of the alleged11 age of that old party. So when Org came to a corner where he should have turned to the right, he turned to the left, and from that time on there was a vacant chair in the Sunday-school.
The old cotton-shed on the edge of the Gaitskill sand pit was the first thing to attract the attention of the pair. In that storehouse, they found an old cotton-truck, and a door which had been torn off the hinges and was lying on the floor near the office.
They found amusement for a while by pulling each other around on the truck. Then they sat down in the door to cool off and gazed out over an expanse of water which formed a shallow pond in the sand pit.
“If we could get this old broken-down door over to that pond, we could have a raft to ride on,” Org remarked.
“’Tain’t no trouble,” Little Bit replied. “Jes’ load de door onto de cotton-truck an’ push de truck down to de pond.”
“You are certainly intell’gent, Little Bit,” Org exclaimed admiringly as he sprang to his feet.
“Pushin’ things an’ liftin’ things an’ loadin’ things—dat’s a cullud pusson’s nachel-bawn job,” Little Bit chuckled12. “’Tain’t no trouble fer a nigger to think up dat.”
“Let’s get this door on the truck and move our raft,” Org urged.
It was not hard to do. The pine door was not very heavy, and from the time they got it out of the building, the route was down hill to the edge of the pond. They pushed the truck into the water, easily floated the door off, and then tugged13 mightily14 to drag the truck back to the empty storehouse again.
They found two long poles which would serve to steer15 with, and raced back to the edge of the pond and climbed aboard their raft.
The door sustained them just as long as most of their weight was on their poles, and they were trying to push off. At last they worked their raft out to about four feet of water and felt free to lift their steering-poles and ride.
Then that door slowly sank under their weight until the water was up to their knees, to their waists, to their shoulders. It stopped in its downward journey when it rested on the sandy bottom, and the two lads stood on it, looking at each other with the utmost astonishment16, raising their chins to keep the water out of their mouths.
“You done got yo’ nice Sunday clothes all wet,” Little Bit sighed.
“Yours are wet, too,” Org retorted.
“Dis here is my eve’y-day suit. I ain’t got no all-Sonday gyarments. I wears dese ladylike clothes all de time.”
“I’m sorry you spoilt your only suit,” Org sympathized.
“’Tain’t spiled—it’s jes’ wet,” Little Bit replied. “Whut is us gwine do now?”
“We’re both wet. We might as well have a good time,” Org suggested philosophically17.
“I likes good times an’ dis’n is started off real good,” Little Bit laughed. “You git offen dis ole door an’ le’s see ef it will hold me up.”
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1
bliss
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| n.狂喜，福佑，天赐的福 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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3
scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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4
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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5
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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6
giggled
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| v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7
janitors
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| n.看门人( janitor的名词复数 )；看管房屋的人；锅炉工 | |
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8
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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9
contemplating
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| 深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的现在分词 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想 | |
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10
skeptical
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| adj.怀疑的，多疑的 | |
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11
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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12
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
tugged
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| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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15
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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16
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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17
philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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