_ _Page_ 153.]
CHAPTER XVI
IN THE DITCH
For a few seconds the medicine man looked sharply at Mr. Brown. He did
not appear to understand what the children's father had asked. Then,
finally, Dr. Perry asked:
"Is it a joke you are making?"
"No, indeed. I'm serious," said Mr. Brown. "We are looking for a lost
boy, or rather, a runaway boy, named Fred Ward. The Wards live next door
to us, and when we started on this trip, which is not yet finished, the
boy's parents said they would be glad if we would try to find him and
send him----"
"Tell us, please," broke in Bunny, unable to wait any longer for the
question he wanted answered. "Tell us if your banjo player is really
colored?"
"Oh yes, he's really _colored_ all right," said the medicine man, "but
not by Mother Nature."
"What's that mean?" asked Sue.
"That means, little girl," said Dr. Perry as he put away the unsold
bottles of his medicine, "that my banjo player blackens his face and
hands himself, and reddens his lips, to make him look like a negro."
"Can you tell us who he really is?"
"No, I am sorry to say I can not," said Dr. Perry, and he bowed
respectfully to Mrs. Brown, who had asked the question.
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