Among the Pines Part 33

Such scenes are not for the eye of a stranger, and turning away, I left the room.

CHAPTER XVI.

"ONE MORE UNFORTUNATE."

The family met at the breakfast-table at the usual hour on the following morning; but I noticed that Jim was not in his accustomed place behind the Colonel's chair. That gentleman exhibited his usual good spirits, but Madam P---- looked sad and anxious, and _I_ had not forgotten the scene of the previous evening.

While we were seated at the meal, the negro Junius hastily entered the room, and in an excited manner exclaimed:

"Oh, ma.s.sa, ma.s.sa, you muss c.u.m ter de cabin--Jim hab draw'd his knife, and he swar he'll kill de fuss 'un dat touch him!"

"He does, does he!" said his master, springing from his seat, and abruptly leaving the apartment.

Remembering the fierce burst of pa.s.sion I had seen in the negro, and fearing there was danger a-foot, I rose to follow, saying, as I did so:

"Madam, cannot you prevent this?"

"I cannot, sir; I have already done all I can. Go and try to pacify the Colonel--Jim will die before he'll be whipped." Jim was standing at the farther end of the old cabin, with his back to the wall, and the large spring knife in his hand. Some half-dozen negroes were in the centre of the room, apparently cowed by his fierce and desperate looks, and his master was within a few feet of him.

"I tell you, Cunnel," cried the negro, as I entered, "you touch me at your peril!"

"You d----d n.i.g.g.e.r, do you dare to speak so to me?" said his master, taking a step toward him.

The knife rose in the air, and the black, in a cool, sneering tone, replied: "Say your prayers 'fore you come nigher, for, so help me G.o.d, you'm a dead man!"

I laid my hand on the Colonel's arm, to draw him back, saying, as I did so: "There's danger in him! I _know_ it. Let him go, and he shall ask your pardon."

"I shan't ax his pardon," cried the black; "leff him an' me be, sir; we'll fix dis ourselfs."

"Don't interfere, Mr. K----," said my host, with perfect coolness, but with a face pallid with rage. "Let me govern my own plantation."

"As you say, sir," I replied, stepping back a few paces; "but I warn you--there is danger in him!"

Taking no notice of my remark, the Colonel turning to the trembling negroes, said: "One of you go to the house and bring my pistols."

"You kin shoot me, ef you likes," said Jim, with a fierce, grim smile; "but I'll take you ter h--l wid me, _sh.o.r.e_. You knows WE wont stand a blow!"

The Colonel, at the allusion to their relationship, started as if shot, and turning furiously on the negro, yelled out: "I'll shoot you for that, you d----d n.i.g.g.e.r, by ----."

"It 'pears ter me, Cunnel, ye've hed 'bout nuff shootin' round har, lately; better stop thet sort o' bis'ness; it moight give ye a sore throat," said the long, lean, loose-jointed stump-speaker of the previous Sunday, as he entered the cabin and strode directly up to my host.

"What brought you here, you d----d insolent hound?" cried the Colonel, turning fiercely on the new-comer.

"Wal, I c.u.m ter du ye a naaboorly turn--I've kotched two on yer n.i.g.g.e.rs down ter my still, and I want ye ter take 'em 'way," returned the corn-cracker, with the utmost coolness.

"Two of my n.i.g.g.e.rs!" exclaimed the Colonel, perceptibly moderating his tone--"which ones?"

"A yaller gal, and a chile."

"I thank you, Barnes; excuse my hard words--I was excited."

"All right, Cunnel; say no more 'bout thet. Will ye send fur 'em? I'd hev fotched 'em 'long, but my waggin's off jest now."

"Yes, I'll send at once. Have you got them safe?"

"Safe? I reckon so! Kotched 'em last night, arter dark, and they've kept right still ever sense, I 'sure ye--but th' gal holds on ter th' young 'un ter kill--we cudn't get it 'way no how."

"How did you catch them?"

"They got 'gainst my turpentime raft--the curren' driv 'em down, I s'pose."

"What! are they dead?"

"Dead? deader'n drownded rats!" replied the native,

"My G.o.d! drowned herself and her child!" exclaimed the Colonel, with deep emotion.

"It is terrible, my friend. Come, let us go to them, at once," I said, laying my hand on his arm, and drawing him unresistingly away.

A pair of mules was speedily harnessed to a large turpentine wagon, and the horses we had ridden the day before were soon at the door. When the Colonel, who had been closeted for a few minutes with Madam P----, came out of the house, we mounted, and rode off with the "corn-cracker."

The native's farm was located on the stream which watered my friend's plantation, and was about ten miles distant. Taking a by-road which led to it through the woods, we rode rapidly on in advance of the wagon.

"Sort o' likely gal, thet, warn't she?" remarked the turpentine-maker, after a while.

"Yes, she was," replied the Colonel, in a half-abstracted manner; "_very_ likely."

"Kill ha.r.s.elf 'case har man war shot by thet han'som overseer uv your'n?"

"Not altogether for that, I reckon," replied my host; "I fear the main reason was her being put at field-work, and abused by the driver."

"Thet comes uv not lookin' arter things yerself, Cunnel. I tend ter my n.i.g.g.e.rs parsonally, and they keer a durned sight more fur this world then fur kingdom-c.u.m. Ye cudn't hire 'em ter kill 'emselves fur no price."

"Well," replied the Colonel, in a low tone, "I _did_ look after her. I put her at full field-work, myself!"

"By----!" cried the native, reining his horse to a dead stop, and speaking in an excited manner: "I doant b'lieve it--'taint 't all like ye--yer a d----d seceshener; thet comes uv yer bringin'-up--but ye've a soul bigger'n a meetin'-house, and ye cudn't hev put thet slim, weakly gal inter th' woods, no how!"

The Colonel and I instinctively halted our horses, as the "corn-cracker"

stopped his, and were then standing abreast of him in the road.

"It's true, Barnes," said my host, in a voice that showed deep dejection; "I _did_ do it!"

"May G.o.d Almighty furgive ye, Cunnel," said the native, starting his horse forward; "_I_ wudn't hev dun it fur all yer n.i.g.g.e.rs, by ----."

The Colonel made no reply, and we rode on the rest of the way in silence.