Aunty May wouldn't let Mr. Garry touch me or help her at all, and even
Aunty Edith wouldn't hardly speak to him, till they found I was all
right and not hurt any, except my blouse, which was left on the Island.

Mr. Garry gave me his own silver pen-knife, before he went away, so that
I would "nevermore defenseless be," as he said, and we were quite
friendly. But after he had gone, I heard Aunty May say that "Never would
that absent-minded beggar take her boy away again"; and Aunty Edith
said, "He's Burt's boy, not yours."

Aunty May didn't say anything, so I called out, "I'm your boy, too,
Aunty May. Uncle Burt said so, and I'll never, never go out with an
absent-minded beggar on the river again."

And I never have.




CHAPTER VI


GEORGE

For a while, I did have a real boy to play with, right in the house. It
happened this way:--

Martha, who is Aunty Edith's colored washerwoman in the city, had a boy
called George, who used to bring the clothes home. He was a little older
than me--twelve years old--and he was always smiling, and his teeth were