"Oh, dat's all right. Doan't mind me," went on the colored man. "It
was mah fault fer gittin in de road. But dat mule Boomerang am
suttinly de most outrageous quadruped dat ever circumlocuted."

"Why do you call him Boomerang?" asked Tom, wondering if the negro
really was hurt.

"What fo' I call him Boomerang? Did yo' eber see dem Australian
black mans what go around wid a circus t'row dem crooked sticks dey
calls boomerangs?"

"Yes, I've seen them."

"Well, Boomerang, mah mule, am jest laik dat. He's crooked, t' begin
wid, an' anudder t'ing, yo' can't never tell when yo' start him whar
he's gwine t' land up. Dat's why I calls him Boomerang."

"I see. It's a very proper name. But why don't you try to get up?"

"Does yo' t'ink I can?"

"Sure. Try it. By the way, what's your name?"

"My name? Why I was christened Eradicate Andrew Jackson Abraham
Lincoln Sampson, but folks most ginnerally calls me Eradicate
Sampson, an' some doan't eben go to dat length. Dey jest calls me
Rad, fo' short."

"Eradicate," mused Tom. "That's a queer name, too. Why were you
called that?"