noon
`` I -- I ` se gwine t ' feed mah mule , Boomerang , '' said the colored man slowly . `` It 's his eatin ' time , jest now , Massa Tom . '' `` Nonsense ! It is n't anywhere near noon yet . '' `` Yais , sab , Massa Tom , I knows dat , '' said Eradicate , as he carefully edged away from the big gun , `` but I ` se done changed de eatin ' hours ob dat mule . He had a little touch ob indigestion de udder day , an ' I ` se feedin ' him diff'rent now . So I guess as how yo 'll hab t ' ` scuse me now , Massa Tom . ''