"Tell me all about it," urged Tom sympathetically, for he had afriendly feeling toward the aged2 darky.
"Well," began Eradicate3, "I suah thought I were gwine to make moneycuttin' grass, 'specially4 after yo' done fixed5 mah moah. But 'pearedlaik nobody wanted any grass cut. I trabeled all ober, an' Icouldn't git no jobs. Now me an' Boomerang has to eat, no mattah efhe is contrary, so I had t' look fo' some new wuk. I traded datlawn-moah off fo' a cross-cut saw, but dat was such hard wuk dat Igib it up. Den6 I got a chance to buy dis yeah outfit7 cheap, an' Ibought it."
Eradicate then went on to tell how he had purchased the portablesawmill from a man who had no further use for it, and how he hadmanaged to transport it from a distant village to the spot where Tomhad met him. There he had secured permission to work a piece ofwoodland on shares, sawing up the smaller trees into cord wood. Hehad started in well enough, cutting down considerable timber, forthe colored man was a willing worker, but when he tried to start hismill he met with trouble.
"I counted on Boomerang helpin' me," he said to Tom. "All he has todo is walk on dat tread mill, an' keep goin'. Dat makes de saw go'round, an' I saws de wood. But de trouble am dat I can't gitBoomerang to move. I done tried ebery means I knows on, an' he won'tgo. I talked kind to him, an' I talked harsh. I done beat him wif aclub, an' I rub his ears soft laik, an' he allers did laik dat, buthe won't go. I fed him on carrots an' I gib him sugar, an' I ebenstarve him, but he won't go. Heah I been tryin' fo' three days nowt' git him started, an' not a stick hab I sawed. De man what I'mwukin' wif on shares he git mad, an' he say ef I doan't saw woodpretty soon he gwine t' git annuder mill heah. Now I axes yo' fair,Mistah Swift, ain't I got lots ob trouble?"
"You certainly seem to have," agreed Tom "But why is Boomerang soobstinate? Usually on a treadmill8 a horse or a mule9 has to workwhether they like it or not. If they don't keep moving the platformslides out from under them, and they come up against the back bar."
"Dat's what done happened to Boomerang," declared Eradicate. "Hedone back up against de bar, an' dere he stay."
Tom went over and looked at the mill. The outfit was an old one, andhad seen much service, but the trained eye of the young inventor sawthat it could still be used effectively. Boomerang watched Tom, asthough aware that something unusual was about to happen.
"Heah I done gone an' 'vested mah money in dis yeah mill,"complained Eradicate, "an' I ain't sawed up a single stick. Ef Iwasn't so kind-hearted I'd chastise10 dat mule wuss dan I has, dat'swhat I would."
Tom said nothing. He was stooping down, looking at the gearing thatconnected the tread mill with the shaft11 which revolved12 the saw.Suddenly he uttered an exclamation14,
"Rad, have you been monkeying with this machinery15?" he asked.
"Me? Good land, Mistah Swift, no, sah! I wouldn't tech it. It's jestas I got it from de man I bought it oh. It worked when he had it,but he used a hoss. It's all due to de contrariness ob Boomerang,an' if I--"
"No, it isn't the mule's fault at all!" exclaimed Tom. "The mill isout of gear, and tread is locked; that's all. The man you bought itoff probably did it so you could haul it along the road. I'll haveit fixed for you in a few minutes. Wait until I get some tools."
From the bag on his motor-cycle Tom got his implements16. He firstunlocked the treadmill, so that the inclined platform, on which theanimal slowly walked, could revolve13. No sooner had he done this thanBoomerang, feeling the slats under his hoofs17 moving away, startedforward. With a rattle18 the treadmill slid around.
"Good land o' massy! It's goin'!" cried Eradicate delightedly. "Itsuah am goin'!" he added as he saw the mule, with nimble feet, sendthe revolving19, endless string of slats around and around. "But desaw doan't move, Mistah Swift. Yo' am pretty smart at fixin' it asmuch as yo' has, but I reckon it's too busted20 t' eber saw any wood.I'se got bad luck, dat's what I has."
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Tom. "The sawmill will be going in a moment.All I have to do is to throw it into gear. See here, Rad. When youwant the saw to go you just throw this handle forward. That makesthe gears mesh21."
"What's dat 'bout1 mush?" asked Eradicate.
"Mesh--not mush. I mean it makes the cogs fit together. See," andTom pressed the lever. In an instant, with a musical whirr, the sawbegan revolving.
"Hurrah22! Dere it goes! Golly! see de saw move!" cried the delightedcolored man. He seized a stick of wood, and in a trice it was sawedthrough.
"Whoop23!" yelled Eradicate. "I'm sabed now! Bless yo', Mistah Swift,yo' suttinly am a wondah!"
"Now I'll show you how it works," went on Tom. "When you want tostop Boomerang, you just pull this handle. That locks the tread, andhe can't move it," and, suiting the action to his words, Tom stoppedthe mill. "Then," he went on, "when you want him to move, you pullthe handle this way," and he showed the darky how to do it. In amoment the mule was moving again. Then Tom illustrated24 how to throwthe saw in and out of gear, and in a few minutes the sawmill was infull operation, with a most energetic colored man feeding in logs tobe cut up into stove lengths.
"You ought to have an assistant, Rad," said Tom, after he hadwatched the work for a while. "You could get more done then, andmove on to some other wood-patch."
"Dat's right, Mistah Swift, so I had. But I 'done tried, an'couldn't git any. I ast seberal colored men, but dey'd radderwhitewash an' clean chicken coops. I guess I'll hab t' go it alone.I ast a white man yisterday ef he wouldn't like t' pitch in an'help, but he said he didn't like to wuk. He was a tramp, an' he hadde nerve to ask me fer money--me, a hard-wukin' coon."
"You didn't give it to him, I hope."
"No, indeedy, but he come so close to me dat I was askeered he mighttake it from me, so I kept hold ob a club. He suah was a bad-lookin'tramp, an' he kept laffin' all de while, like he was happy."
"What's that?" cried Tom, struck by the words of the colored man."Did he have a thick, brown beard?"
"Dat's what he had," answered Eradicate, pausing in the midst of hiswork. "He suah were a funny sort ob tramp. His hands done lookedlaik he neber wuked, an' he had a funny blue ring one finger, onlyit wasn't a reg'lar ring, yo' know. It was pushed right inter25 hisskin, laik a man I seen at de circus once, all cobered wid funnyfiggers."
Tom leaped to his feet.
"Which finger was the blue ring tattooed26 on?" he asked, and hewaited anxiously for the answer.
"Let me see, it were on de right--no, it were on de little finger obde left hand."
"Are you sure, Rad?"
"Suah, Mistah Swift. I took 'tic'lar notice, 'cause he carried astick in dat same hand."
"It must be my man--Happy Harry27!" exclaimed Tom half aloud. "Whichway did he go, Rad, after he left you?"
"He went up de lake shore," replied the colored man. "He asked me ifI knowed ob an ole big house up dere, what nobody libed in, an' Isaid I did. Den he left, an' I were glad ob it."
"Which house did you mean, Rad?"
"Why, dat ole mansion28 what General Harkness used t' lib in befo' dewah. Dere ain't nobody libed in it fo' some years now, an' it'sdeserted. Maybe a lot ob tramps stays in it, an' dat's where dis manwere goin'."
"Maybe," assented29 Tom, who was all excitement now. "Just where isthis old house, Rad?"
"Away up at de head ob Lake Carlopa. I uster wuk dere befo' de wah,but it's been a good many years since quality folks libed dere. Why,did yo' want t' see dat man, Mistah Swift?"
"Yes, Rad, I did, and very badly, too. I think he is the very personI want. But don't say anything about it. I'm going to take a trip upto that strange mansion. Maybe I'll get on the trail of Happy Harryand the men who robbed me. I'm much obliged to you, Rad, for thisinformation. It's a good clue, I think. Strange that you should meetthe very tramp I've been searching for."
"Well, I suah am obliged to yo', Mistah Swift, fo' fixin' mahsawmill."
"That's all right. What you told me more than pays for what I did,Rad. Well, I'm going home now to tell dad, and then I'm going to startout. Yesterday, you said it was, you saw Happy Harry? Well, I'll getright after him," and leaving a somewhat surprised, but very muchdelighted, colored man behind him, Tom mounted his motor-cycle andstarted for home at a fast pace.
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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eradicate
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| v.根除，消灭，杜绝 | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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treadmill
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| n.踏车；单调的工作 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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shaft
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| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
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revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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revolve
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| vi.(使)旋转；循环出现 | |
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exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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implements
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| n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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busted
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| adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词 | |
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mesh
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| n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络 | |
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hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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whoop
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| n.大叫，呐喊，喘息声；v.叫喊，喘息 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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inter
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| v.埋葬 | |
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tattooed
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| v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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