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An' dar was my poah young Missy Mary, who hadn't de heart to hurt a skeeter. You s'pose I watch ober dat broken-hearted lam' an' her little chile an' den heah 'em called white folks, as if dey'se no 'count ter me? How ofen dat poah dyin' lam' turn to me in de middle ob de night an' say ter me, Sheba, you will took keer on my chile ef it libe, an' I say to her 'fore de Lawd dat I would.
As a Virginia Negro at one of the stations put it succinctly, "If dey ain't black, dey'se white." A jungle bewilderment of vegetation grew up about us, with rich clearings for little clusters of palm-leaf huts, jungles so dense the eye could not penetrate them.
"De redcoats, de British sojuhs, suh; dey 'se fohty boat-loads ob 'em; dey'se come off fum de lil' sloop out in de ribah, and dey 'se gwine kill we all, and bu'n de house down. Dey done shot Mars' Blodgett, and dey'se coming heah special to get you, suh, Mars' Kunnel, kase I heahd dem say, when I was lyin' down on de wha'f, dat de man dey wanted was dat Kunnel Wilton."
"I could see you in the dark." "Don't you like de duds, boss?" inquired Spike, anxiously. "They're great," said Jimmy. "You'd make Solomon in all his glory look like a tramp 'cyclist." "Dat's right," agreed Spike. "Dey'se de limit."
"Don't I see you as you are, Grace?" he said. "Well, I am often spellbound by what I do see. If Hilda becomes like you, excepting your sorrows, my dearest wish in her behalf will be fulfilled." Old Aunt Sheba, standing behind the baby's chair, felt a chill at heart as she thought: "Dey'se all a-worshippin' de chile and each oder. I sees it so plain dat I'se all ob a-tremble."
She was now resting after the fatigues of the day, and the effort to get and dispose of a very substantial supper, and was puffing at her pipe in a meditative aspect. Evidently something unusual was on her mind, and she at last ejaculated, "I know dey'se poah." "Who's?" languidly queried Uncle Sheba. "Oh, you'd neber fin' out. Dey'd starve long o' you." "I dunno who dey is.
"Massa Rodney," he bawled, "Massa Rodney, de gent's 'longside him an' Wilkinson yaas, by de good Lord dey'se both dere! Dey hail me an' I answer and say who are you, and dey say are you de Boca? We am, I say, and dey say " I had stood stupidly staring at him, but my full understanding coming to me on a sudden, I jumped to the ladder and darted on deck.
"Is that you, Nimbus?" asked the stricken man in surprise. "How do you come to be here?" "Jes tuk it inter my head ter come home atter de funeril, an' done got here jest in time ter take a han' in what was gwine on." "Is the church all burned down, Nimbus?" "De ruf hez all fell in. De sides 'll burn a long while yet. Dey'se logs, yer know." "Did 'Gena get away, Nimbus?" "Here I is, Bre'er 'Liab."
"Oh, yaas, yaas, ma'am, dey was careful of de're niggers and wouldn't let de drivers whip 'em much." "And these Cresswells today?" "Oh, dey're quality high-blooded folks dey'se lost some land and niggers, but, lordy, nuttin' can buy de Cresswells, dey naturally owns de world." "Are they honest and kind?" "Oh, yaas, ma'am dey'se good white folks." "Good white folk?"
"It's de boys again, honey," she returned solemnly; "dey'se good boys, dey is good to de're old mammy, but dey'se high strung and dey gits fighting and drinking and and last Saturday night dey got took up again.
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