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"'Tain't 'kase I doan want ter gib yo' dat papah, suh," he began confusedly, edging toward the open hall door. "But de cunnel, he brunged meh up ter obey his odders, same as he done Miss Nancy. His word wore law to eb'ry one on de plantashun. I reckon I'se jes' got ter fin' some way ob reachin' Miss Nancy." "You won't have to reach far," volunteered a familiar voice from the doorway.
Ef dere is a man in your room, he shall shar de fate ob dat villain dat I've 'spected ob bein' a tief afore. An' he went an' looken in Missy Roberta's room. In a few moments he come back an' say, 'Dere was a man dar, but he 'scape troo de winder on de verandy-roof. Ef I kin discober 'im he shall die too. Den he say, grave an' sad-like: 'Ladies, dere is bad men in eb'ry army.
I was a-helpin' Missy S'wanee, an' she say to me, 'Zeb, could you eber tink dat a Yankee cap'n could be such a gemlin? I didn't say nuffin', fer I didn't want anybody ter'spect what was in my min', but eb'ry chance I git I keep my eye on Cap'n Lane, fer I believed he could gib us our liberty.
I didn't see notin' in Beaufort. Eb'ry step was worth a half a dollar." And they all marched as if it were so. They knew well that they were marching through throngs of officers and soldiers who had drilled as many months as we had drilled weeks, and whose eyes would readily spy out every defect.
The dawn broke in what Jack termed "record time," and Washington White gave vent to his surprise in characteristic language: "I done seed de sun rise in eb'ry clime, f'om de Arctic t'rough de tropical to the Antarctic kentries. But de speed wid w'ich disher sun pops up is enough ter tear de bastin 't'reads loose from de Universe it suah is!
'She got 'em all laid out side by side in de buryin' groun' wid er little imige on ebry grabe; an', 'Sis Mary Ellen, seein' as she can't read de writin' on de tombstones, she got a diff'unt little animal asettin' on eb'ry head res' so's she kin tell which husban' am which.
"You know Sis' Littlejohn, she been married goin' on five times. Dis-here'll make fo' gentlemans she done buriet an' dey ain't nobody can manage a fun'el like she kin; 'pears like hit jes' come natchel to her. She sho' is done a good part by eb'ry single husban' too, an' she's figgerin' to outdo all the yuthers wid Brudder Littlejohn's co'pse."
Dere was orful fightin' fer a while, an' de men widout dere hosses leap outen de woods and shot like mad. It was flash! bang! on eb'ry side. At las' de Linkum men won de day, an' some ob de rebs burst troo de woods an' run, wid Cap'n Lane's men arter dem, an' dey kep' a-chasin' till a bugle call dem back. Den I run to de house, fer dey was bringin' in de pris'ners.
Then, flushed and laughing, she came and cast herself upon the bench by Uncle Zeb. "Yo' do it better eb'ry time, chile!" declared the old fellow, highly delighted that she had danced to his playing. "And you gave it better than ever before! Did I shock you, Mr. Stone?" She turned to me with a look of deep contrition. I sat down beside her, and spoke my mind. "I never saw anything like it.
I takes her wid me to de cotton field, and she lay and look at me all day long, so strange like, as if she want to know why we dar all alone; and at night I feed her wid de corn-cake, like her poor mammy used to do, and at eb'ry mouthful she look up in my face, den at de door, to see if its mammy not comin'. After a while I gets a little used to de ache, which I hab since Phillis tuck away, and all de time I not at work in de field, I takes care ob de young un, to keep from hearing dat awful shriek, when one mornin' I wakes up, and de little Phillis nowhar' to be seen, and I's neber seen her since, missy."
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