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Then they gave the far-reaching, fiendish, rebel yell. "Shoot," I replied, "if you want to be hung." "Boys," I said, turning to the darkies, "what's the matter?" "Oh, boss, massa Linkum's dead, de Dimikrat am Presidunt, und we poo' niggers be slabes agin. We fight, we die, but we won't be slabes agin, neber."
You an' me we'll go to markit ebery day wid baskits on our arms, an we'll ob course go round by de walls, where your fadder works. No doubt it's a roundabout way, but what ob dat? We'll go at de hour your fadder feeds wid de oder slabes, an' as we pass we'll drop de two biskits in his lap." "But won't he be taken by surprise, Sally?"
"But you's right when you say I could tell you much more. Oh! I could tell you heaps more! In de fuss place I was sotin' wid de oder slabes in de kitchen, enjoyin' ourselves arter supper, w'en we hear a cry! Oh my! how my heart jump! Den all our legs jump, and out we hoed wid lanterns an " "Fool! don't I know all that?
Dose were berry bad times. Ebery one fight against ebery one else. Ebery one take slabes and send dem down de river, and sell to white men dere to carry ober sea. When I grow up to seventeen, I s'pose, I take spear and go out wid de people of dis village and de oder villages of dis part ob country under king, and fight against oder villages and carry the people away as slabes.
De bery next night I ran away again but dis time I determined to make for de town in hopes ob getting on board an English ship, for I had heard from de oder slabes dat de English did not keep black men as slabes, but dat, on de contry, dey did what dey could to stop de Spanish from getting dem away from Africa, and I understood now dat de dreful noise we had heard on de first day we were on board ship was an attack upon our vessel by an English cruiser.
'But I thought that you might, like me, be interested in freeing slabes. "'Dat I am, I said, 'dough I had neber thought much about it. "'You hab heard, p'raps, she said, 'ob de underground railway. "'Yes, ma'am, said I. 'Dat is de blessed 'stitution which smuggles slaves across the frontier. "'Dat is it, she said, 'and I belongs to it. "'Does you, missy? me says. 'De Lord bless you.
"Yes; and my dear old mother told me, long before you did, that `love is the fulfilling of the law." "Well, I dun know much about law, 'xcep' dat I b'lieve it's a passel o' nonsense, for what we's got here an't o' no use leastwise not for slabes." "But my mother did not refer to human laws," returned Foster. "She quoted what the Bible says about God's laws."
A good many ob de weak ones dey die, but de most ob us arribe at mouth ob riber; me neber know what riber dat was, but we were berry nigh two months in getting dere. By dis time Sam arribe at the conclusion berry strong, dat de burning ob villages and carrying off ob slabes berry bad affair altogether.
For de most part dese led libes differing no way from deir neighbors; dey tilled de land, or kept stores like oders, and none of dose around dem suspected in de slightest degree deir mission in de south. To deir houses at night fugitive slabes would come, guided by dose from de next post.
What do you mean?" "I mean dat you an' me's out for a holiday two slabes out for a holiday! T'ink ob dat!" The negro threw back his head, opened his capacious jaws, and gave vent to an almost silent chuckle. "That does indeed mound strange," returned Foster; "how has such a wonderful event been brought about?" "By lub, Geo'ge. Di'n't I tell you before dat hub am eberyt'ing?"
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