Beadle's Dime Novels No. 33: Maum Guinea and Her Plantation Children — page 118: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

110 MAUM GUINEA. , upon his alligator’s head. It was the turn of Conundibus to be frightened. He burst from the skin, to find one of the darkies, armed with a club, ready to dash out his brains. His sudden appearance, however, apparently from the very monster’s bowels, caused the assailant to stagger back in horror. Conundibus, throwing the skin over on the stupefied negro, made for the woods, while the thick recesses were rendered fairly jubilant with his Jaughter.. his laughter proved his frolic’s ruin; SC nc secreted in the darkness, sprang out, and soon had him prisoner. They dragged him forward to,the fire, to find the fellow with the club carefully examining the hollow skin, to be assured there was not another darkey within its ample hol- low. The, capture of the “serious rascal ” revealed all, and although the darkies had had. their feast. almost spoiled, so clever was. the trigk that they soon forgave the joker, and the feast went on. Alligator stories became the theme of discoutes 52, Sag ple, consaned. Jo diesppenr- “Whar did you get dat big skin, Conundibus?” said the negro whose club had so nearly finished the apparition. “You jes’ tell me wha’ for you come back to see dat I wasn’t an alligator—you. jes’ tell Gat afore I answers any interrogums,” said Conundibus, anxious to learn how it was possible for any negro. to. get his courage up to the point of assailing “de debbil.” “Wry, you see, I tought, it was only de old cane-brake alligator waked up from his snooze. jes’ for to get sunthin’ to fill his stomach aside ob stones. I tought he jes’ smell pig, and come out ob de mud, and he so stiff he eouldn’t walk, so he come along on his tail. I knowed ’twasn’t de debbil, ‘cause I saw de debbil once, and he was a horse, wid a cow's head and a chicken’s tail, and had a church bell on his back. ) Dat I knowed was de debbil; and se I knowed dis yere wasn't eae se 2 , @