At the moment the steward made his faint lip-noise--so faint that he
could not hear it himself and was almost for wondering whether or not he
had made it; so faint that the Shortlands planter did not dream that he
was making it. At that moment Michael was lying squirming on his back a
dozen feet away, his legs straight up in the air, both fox-terriers
worrying with well-stimulated ferociousness. With a quick out-thrust of
his four legs, he rolled over on his side and with questioning eyes and
pricked ears looked and listened. Again Daughtry made the lip-noise;
again the Shortlands planter did not hear nor guess; and Michael bounded
to his feet and to his lord's side.
"Some dog, eh?" the steward boasted.
"But how did he know you wanted him?" the planter queried. "You never
called him."
"Mental telepathy, the affinity of souls pitched in the same whatever-you-
call-it harmony," the steward mystified. "You see, Killeny an' me are
made of the same kind of stuff, only run into different moulds. He might
a-been my full brother, or me his, only for some mistake in the creation
factory somewhere. Now I'll show you he knows his bit of arithmetic."
And, drawing the paper balls from his pocket, Dag Daughtry demonstrated
to the amazement and satisfaction of the ring of passengers Michael's
ability to count to five.
"Why, sir," Daughtry concluded the performance, "if I was to order four
glasses of beer in a public-house ashore, an' if I was absent-minded an'
didn't notice the waiter 'd only brought three, Killeny Boy there 'd
raise a row instanter."
Kwaque was no longer compelled to enjoy his jews' harp on the gratings
over the fire-room, now that Michael's presence on the _Makambo_ was
known, and, in the stateroom, on stolen occasions, he made experiments of
his own with Michael. Once the jews' harp began emitting its barbaric
rhythms, Michael was helpless. He needs must open his mouth and pour
forth an unwilling, gushing howl. But, as with Jerry, it was not mere
howl. It was more akin to a mellow singing; and it was not long before
Kwaque could lead his voice up and down, in rough time and tune, within a
definite register.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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