Part 10 (2/2)
”Done what?” asked the young inventor. ”I hope you and Koku haven't had another row.”
”No, sah! I don't want nuffin t' do wif dat ornery, low-down white tras.h.!.+ But I's gone an' done whut I said I'd do!”
”What's that, Rad? Come on, tell us! Don't keep us in suspense.”
”I's done some deteckertiff wuk, lest laik I said I'd do, an' I's cotched him! By golly, Ma.s.sa Tom! I's cotched him black-handed, as it says!”
”Caught him? Whom have you caught, Rad?” cried Tom. ”Do you suppose he means he's caught the man you saw up the tree, Ned? The man you think is a German spy?”
”It couldn't be. I left him only a little while ago hunting for his telescope.”
”Then whom have you caught, Rad?” cried Tom. ”Come on, I'll give you credit for it. Tell us!”
”I's cotched dat Dutch Sauerkrauter, dat's who I's cotched, Ma.s.sa Tom!
By golly, I's cotched him!”
”But who, Rad? Who is he?”
”I don't know his name, Ma.s.sa Tom, but he's a Sauerkrauter, all right.
Dat's whut he eats for lunch, an' dat's why I calls him dat. I's cotched him, an' he's locked up in de stable wif mah mule Boomerang.
An' ef he tries t' git out Boomerang'll jest natchully kick him into little pieces--dat's whut Boomerang will do, by golly!”
Chapter IX
A Night Test
”Come on, Ned,” said Tom, after a moment or two of silent contemplation of Eradicate. ”I don't know what this cheerful camouflager of mine is talking about, but we'll have to go to see, I suppose. You say you have shut some one up in Boomerang's stable, Rad?”
”Yes, sah, Ma.s.sa Tom, dat's whut I's gone an done.”
”And you say he's a German?”
”I don't know as to dat, Ma.s.sa Tom, but he suah done eat sauerkraut 'mostest ebery meal. Dat's whut I call him--a Sauerkrauter! An' he suah was spyin'.”
”How do you know that, Rad?”
”'Cause he done went from his own shop on annuder man's ticket into de secret shop, dat's whut he went an' done!”
”Do you mean to tell me, Rad,” went on Tom, ”that one of the workmen from another shop entered Number Thirteen on the pa.s.s issued in the name of one of the men regularly employed in my new shop?”
”Dat's whut he done, Ma.s.sa Tom.”
”How do you know?”
<script>