By way of reply the sailor laughed heartily but silently, and poked his brother in the ribs with his finger.
"I know you have made the darkeys afraid of you by telling them your ridiculous stories, and I am ashamed to say that I have backed up all you have said to them," continued Marcy. "But I don"t see why you stuffed them up that way to-night. It wasn"t true, of course."
"All sailors are strictly truthful," replied Jack. "But seriously, Marcy, I never told a straighter story than I told those blacks a while ago, when I warned them that some morning they would find a man missing.
"Jack," said Marcy, suddenly, "what is it that has been taking you out of the house so much of nights during the last two weeks? Mother and I have often thought we would ask you, but have as often come to the conclusion that when you were ready to let us know, you would tell us."
"And a very wise conclusion it was," answered Jack. "By leaving me entirely alone, you have thrown no obstacles in my way."
"But if you were working up anything, why didn"t you take me into your confidence?" said Marcy reproachfully.
"Because one can hide his movements better than two. Besides, I did not see my way clearly, and I didn"t want to raise any false hopes. But I think the thing is cut and dried now, and as sure as you live," here he sunk his voice to a whisper, "there"ll be the biggest kind of a rumpus in the quarter some morning; and if mother happens to be awake, she will wonder why she doesn"t hear the horn."
"Why won"t she hear it?"
"For the very good reason that there will be no one there who has a right to blow it."
"_Jack!_" Marcy almost gasped.
"Well, you wait and see if I don"t know what I am talking about,"
replied the sailor.
"Where will Hanson be on that particular morning?"
"I can"t tell. I only know that he will be gone, that he will not be likely to trouble you and mother any more, for a while at least, and that the whole thing will be so very mysterious that such fellows as Shelby and Allison will be frightened out of their boots; and, Marcy,"
added Jack, speaking in a still lower whisper, "you needn"t go back to the _Hattie_ if you don"t want to."
"Jack, I wish you would tell me just what you mean," said Marcy impatiently.
"All right. Give me a chance and I will. But, in the first place, what was Bose barking at while I was gone? He acted as though he was getting ready to bite something or somebody. Was it Hanson?"
"That"s just who it was," replied Marcy.
"And did Bose hold him until you had opportunity to speak to him!"
continued Jack. "All right. That was what I left him for. I don"t care now what Hanson told you, for I don"t suppose there was a word of truth in it; but what did you think when you spoke to him?"
"I said to myself that one eavesdropper had been brought to light, and that the next thing would be to find out who it is that carries news to him from the house," replied Marcy.
"Exactly. Well, there"s no one that carries news, but there is a little nig who used to take him a pack of lies every day," replied Jack, "and I know who it is. That was what I meant when I told those two darkeys awhile ago that I could put my hand on the talebearer in less than ten minutes. It"s Julius."
"Jack, you are certainly dreaming," exclaimed Marcy, growing more and more amazed.
"If you should try to take my measure on the ground right here, you might find that I am tolerably wide awake," replied the sailor, with a laugh. "I have had several talks with the overseer, all unbeknown to you and mother, and by taking it for granted that he was a good rebel, I caught him off his guard a time or two (but that wasn"t a hard thing to do), and learned, to my surprise, that somebody was keeping him very well _mis_informed regarding the doings in the house. Of course that excited my curiosity, and after thinking the matter over I took Julius by the neck one day when I happened to catch him alone, and frightened the secret out of him."
And this was the secret, which Jack told in as few words as possible, for he knew that his mother was anxiously awaiting his return. Julius was one of the few servants who were allowed the freedom of the house; but, like many others of his race, he was somewhat given to laying violent hands upon things that did not belong to him. He was rarely detected, and when he was he generally succeeded in lying out of it, and of course this made him bolder; so when he saw Mrs. Gray"s valuable breastpin lying exposed on her dressing-table, he slipped it into his pocket, made his way from the house without being seen, and went behind one of the cabins to admire it. But, as bad luck would have it, the overseer, who never did things openly and above board as other folks do them, came "snooping" along the lane and caught him in the act.
"What"s that you"ve got there?" he demanded.
"Wha--what thing, Ma.r.s.e Hanson?" stammered Julius.
"That thing you"re putting in your pocket," replied the overseer. "Hand it out, or I"ll wear this rawhide into slivers on your black hide."
"Look a yer, Ma.r.s.e Hanson," exclaimed Julius. "My missus don"t "low no white trash of a oberseer to whop de house servants. I tell you dat."
And before the words were fairly out of his mouth the little darkey took to his heels and ran like a deer.
"All right," shouted Hanson. "Run away if you want to, and I will go to the missus and tell her that you"ve got something of hers--some of her gold things. You won"t lie me down, either, like you done the last time, for I seen you have "em."
This dreadful threat reached the ears of the thief and stopped his flight. He turned about and faced the overseer.
"And then do you know what the Missus will say to me?" the latter went on. "She"ll say, "Mister Hanson, take this boy to the field and put him to work. He ain"t fitten to stay about the house." And when I get you into the field," he added, shaking his riding-whip at the culprit, "won"t I see that you handle them hoes lively? I reckon not. Come here and give me that, I tell you."
"You"ll lick me if I come back," said Julius.
"No, I won"t tech hide nor hair of ye. Honor bright."
"And won"t ye tell de Missus, nuther?"
"Well, that depends on whether I do or not," replied Hanson evasively.
"If you"ll mind every word I say to you and jump the minute you hear the word, I won"t tell her. Come here, now."
Not being able just then to discover any other way out of the sc.r.a.pe, Julius tremblingly obeyed. When the overseer took the stolen pin in his hands his eyes seemed ready to start from their sockets.
"Do you know what you"ve went and done, you thieving n.i.g.g.e.r?" he said, in a mysterious whisper. "What do you reckon these yer things is scattered round "mongst this gold?"
"Gla.s.s, ain"t they?" faltered Julius.
"Gla.s.s, you fule! They"re diamonds. They cost more"n a hundred thousand dollars, and that"s more"n a dozen such n.i.g.g.e.rs as you is worth," said Hanson, who was not very well versed in figures.
This incident happened at the beginning of the troubles between the North and South, and about the time that everybody was supposed to be "taking sides." All the people in that part of the country, with but a single exception, had declared for secession (whether they were sincere or not remains to be seen), and that single exception was Mrs. Gray, who could not be coaxed, cajoled, or surprised into saying a word in favor of one side or the other. Of course this did not suit the red-hot rebels in the vicinity, and as they could not find out anything themselves, they bribed Hanson to try his luck; but he was at fault, too. The trouble with him was, he did not live in the great house, but close to the quarter, which was nearly half a mile away; he had nothing whatever to do with the house servants; and he was pretty certain that those he found opportunity to question, did not always take the trouble to tell him the truth. He must have a reliable ally in the house--some one who was in a position to hear and see everything that was said and done by the inmates, who must not, of course, be given reason for believing that they were watched. Until this episode of the breastpin occurred, Hanson did not know how he was going to get such an ally; but he thought he had found him now.
"I"ll keep these yer diamonds till I find out whether or not you are going to do Jest like I tell you," said the overseer, putting the jewelry into his pocket.
"But, Ma.r.s.e Hanson," protested the darkey, "it ain"t right for you to keep dat thing."
"Now listen at you," said the overseer angrily. "Wasn"t you going to steal it? I ain"t. I"m only going to hold fast to it a little while to see if you are going to do like I tell you. If you do, the Missus will get her pin back, and she won"t never know who took it; but if you don"t, I"ll have you in the field where I can find you every time I retch for you. Now listen. I reckon you know that Mister Marcy is coming home from school one of those days, don"t you? Well, when he comes, I want you to find out if he"s Union or secesh. What"s the Missus anyway?"
"She"s jes" the same that you be," replied Julius.
"Look here, n.i.g.g.e.r," said the overseer, in savage tones, "that won"t go down. You"re Union, ain"t you?"
"Oh, yes sar. Ise Union if you is."
Hanson raised his whip and Julius dodged like a flash.
""Tain"t what I want, and you know it well enough," the man shouted. "I want to know for a fact--for a fact, mind you--what them folks up to the great house is; which side they leans to, Union or Confederate. And if you don"t come down to my house this very night after dark with some news of some kind, I"ll take these yer diamonds straight to the Missus and tell her where I got "em. You know what I mean, so cl"ar yourself."
Glad to escape the whip with which the overseer constantly threatened him while he was talking, Julius lost no time in making his way to the great house; but he did not go near Mrs. Gray till she summoned him into her presence to ask him if he had been in her room that day. Of course he hadn"t been upstairs at all, not even to "tote up de wash-watah, kase dat was de gals" work and not his"n."