MARS MEDDLES.
LOUISBURG, January 10, 1864.
MR. SILAS WARE:
DEAR SIR: In ten days I have to furnish twenty hands to work on fortifications for the Confederate Government. I have tried every plan I could devise to avoid doing so, but can put it off no longer.
I antic.i.p.ated this long ago, and exchanged all the men I could possibly spare for women, thinking that would relieve me, but it makes no difference. They apportion the levy upon the number of slaves. I shall have to furnish more pretty soon. The trouble is to know who to send. I am afraid every devil of them will run away, but have concluded that if I send Nimbus as a sort of headman of the gang, he may be able to bring them through. He is a very faithful fellow, with none of the fool-notions n.i.g.g.e.rs sometimes get, I think. In fact, he is too dull to have such notions. At the same time he has a good deal of influence over the others. If you agree with this idea, send him to me at once. Respectfully, P. DESMIT.
In accordance with this order Nimbus was sent on to have another interview with his master. The latter"s wishes were explained, and he was asked if he could fulfil them. "Dunno," he answered stolidly.
"Are you willing to try?"
"S"pect I hev ter, ennyhow, ef yer say so."
"Now, Nimbus, haven"t I always been a good master to you?"
reproachfully.
No answer.
"Haven"t I been kind to you always?"
"Yer made Ma.r.s.e War" gib me twenty licks once."
"Well, weren"t you saucy, Nimbus? Wouldn"t you have done that to a n.i.g.g.e.r that called you a "grand rascal" to your face?"
"S"pecs I would, Mahs"r."
"Of course you would. You know that very well. You"ve too much sense to remember that against me now. Besides, if you are not willing to do this I shall have to sell you South to keep you out of the hands of the Yanks."
Mr, Desmit knew how to manage "n.i.g.g.e.rs," and full well understood the terrors of being "sold South." He saw his advantage in the flush of apprehension which, before he had ceased speaking, made the jetty face before him absolutely ashen with terror.
"Don"t do dat, Ma.r.s.e Desmit, ef _you_ please! Don"t do dat er wid Nimbus! Mind now, Mahs"r, I"se got a wife an" babies."
"So you have, and I know you don"t want to leave them."
"No more I don"t, Mahs"r," earnestly.
"And you need not if you"ll do as I want you to. See here, Nimbus, if you"ll do this I will promise that you and your family never shall be separated, and I"ll give you fifty dollars now and a hundred dollars when you come back, if you"ll just keep those other fool-n.i.g.g.e.rs from trying--mind" I say _trying_--to run away and so getting shot. There"s no such thing as getting to the Yankees, and it would be a heap worse for them if they did, but you know they _are_ such fools they might try it and get killed--which would serve them right, only I should have to bear the loss."
"All right, Mahs"r, I do the best I can," said Nimbus.
"That"s right," said the master.
"Here are fifty dollars," and he handed him a Confederate bill of that denomination (gold value at that time, $3.21).
Mr. Desmit did not feel entirely satisfied when Nimbus and his twenty fellow-servants went off upon the train to work for the Confederacy. However, he had done all he could except to warn the guards to be very careful, which he did not neglect to do.
Just forty days afterward a ragged, splashed and torn young ebony Samson lifted the flap of a Federal officer"s tent upon one of the coast islands, stole silently in, and when he saw the officer"s eyes fixed upon him. asked,
"Want ary boy, Mahs"r?"
The tone, as well as the form of speech, showed a new-comer. The officer knew that none of the colored men who had been upon the island any length of time would have ventured into his presence unannounced, or have made such an inquiry.
"Where did you come from?" he asked.
"Ober to der mainlan"," was the composed answer.
"How did you get here?"
"Come in a boat."
"Run away?"
"S"pose so."
"Where did you live?"
"Up de kentry--Horsford County."
"How did you come down here?" "Ben wukkin" on de bres"wuks."
"The d.i.c.kens you have!"
"Yes, sah."
"How did you get a boat, then?"
"Jes" tuk it--dry so."
"Anybody with you?"
"No, Mahs"r."
"And you came across the Sound alone in an open boat?"
"Yes, Mahs"r; an" fru" de swamp widout any boat."
"I should say so," laughed the officer, glancing at his clothes.
"What did you come here for?"
"Jes"--_kase_."
"Didn"t they tell you you"d be worse off with the Yankees than you were with them?"
"Yes, sah."
"Didn"t you believe them?"