"Ah!" cried the Creole, "_c"est_ very true. I ged this money in the mysterieuze way. _Mais_, if I keep dis money, you know where it goin" be to-night?"
"I really can"t say," replied the parson.
"Goin" to de dev"," said the sweetly-smiling yonng man.
The schooner-captain, leaning against the shrouds, and even Baptiste, laughed outright.
"O Jools, you mustn"t!"
"Well, den, w"at I shall do wid _it?_"
"Any thing!" answered the parson; "better donate it away to some poor man"--
"Ah! Misty Posson Jone", dat is w"at I want. You los" five hondred dollar"--"twas me fault."
"No, it wa"n"t, Jools."
"_Mais_, it was!"
"No!"
"It _was_ me fault! I _swear_ it was me fault! _Mais_, here is five hondred dollar"; I wish you shall take it. Here! I don"t got no use for money.--Oh, my faith! Posson Jone", you must not begin to cry some more."
Parson Jones was choked with tears. When he found voice he said:
"O Jools, Jools, Jools! my pore, n.o.ble, dear, misguidened friend! ef you hed of hed a Christian raisin"! May the Lord show you your errors better"n I kin, and bless you for your good intentions--oh, no! I cayn"t touch that money with a ten-foot pole; it wa"n"t rightly got; you must really excuse me, my dear friend, but I cayn"t touch it."
St.-Ange was petrified.
"Good-by, dear Jools," continued the parson. "I"m in the Lord"s haynds, and he"s very merciful, which I hope and trust you"ll find it out.
Good-by!"--the schooner sw.a.n.g slowly off before the breeze--"good-by!"
St.-Ange roused himself.
"Posson Jone"! make me hany"ow _dis_ promise: you never, never, _never_ will come back to New Orleans."
"Ah, Jools, the Lord willin", I"ll never leave home again!"
"All right!" cried the Creole; "I thing he"s willin". Adieu, Posson Jone". My faith"! you are the so fighting an" moz rilligious man as I never saw! Adieu! Adieu!"
Baptiste uttered a cry and presently ran by his master toward the schooner, his hands full of clods.
St.-Ange looked just in time to see the sable form of Colossus of Rhodes emerge from the vessel"s hold, and the pastor of Smyrna and Bethesda seize him in his embrace.
"O Colossus! you outlandish old n.i.g.g.e.r! Thank the Lord! Thank the Lord!"
The little Creole almost wept. He ran down the tow-path, laughing and swearing, and making confused allusion to the entire _personnel_ and furniture of the lower regions.
By odd fortune, at the moment that St.-Ange further demonstrated his delight by tripping his mulatto into a bog, the schooner came brushing along the reedy bank with a graceful curve, the sails flapped, and the crew fell to poling her slowly along.
Parson Jones was on the deck, kneeling once more in prayer. His hat had fallen before him; behind him knelt his slave. In thundering tones he was confessing himself "a plum fool," from whom "the conceit had been jolted out," and who had been made to see that even his "n.i.g.g.e.r had the longest head of the two."
Colossus clasped his hands and groaned.
The parson prayed for a contrite heart.
"Oh, yes!" cried Colossus.
The master acknowledged countless mercies.
"Dat"s so!" cried the slave.
The master prayed that they might still be "piled on."
"Glory!" cried the black man, clapping his hands; "pile on!"
"An" now," continued the parson, "bring this pore, backslidin" jackace of a parson and this pore ole fool n.i.g.g.e.r back to thar home in peace!"
"Pray fo" de money!" called Colossus.
But the parson prayed for Jules.
"Pray fo" de _money!_" repeated the negro.
"And oh, give thy servant back that there lost money!"
Colossus rose stealthily, and tiptoed by his still shouting master.
St.-Ange, the captain, the crew, gazed in silent wonder at the strategist. Pausing but an instant over the master"s hat to grin an acknowledgment of his beholders" speechless interest, he softly placed in it the faithfully-mourned and honestly-prayed-for Smyrna fund; then, saluted by the gesticulative, silent applause of St.-Ange and the schooner-men, he resumed his first att.i.tude behind his roaring master.
"Amen!" cried Colossus, meaning to bring him to a close.
"Onworthy though I be"--cried Jones.
"_Amen!_" reiterated the negro.
"A-a-amen!" said Parson Jones.
He rose to his feet, and, stooping to take up his hat, beheld the well-known roll. As one stunned, he gazed for a moment upon his slave, who still knelt with clasped hands and rolling eyeb.a.l.l.s; but when he became aware of the laughter and cheers that greeted him from both deck and sh.o.r.e, he lifted eyes and hands to heaven, and cried like the veriest babe. And when he looked at the roll again, and hugged and kissed it, St.-Ange tried to raise a second shout, but choked, and the crew fell to their poles.
And now up runs Baptiste, covered with slime, and prepares to cast his projectiles. The first one fell wide of the mark; the schooner swung round into a long reach of water, where the breeze was in her favor; another shout of laughter drowned the maledictions of the muddy man; the sails filled; Colossus of Rhodes, smiling and bowing as hero of the moment, ducked as the main boom swept round, and the schooner, leaning slightly to the pleasant influence, rustled a moment over the bulrushes, and then sped far away down the rippling bayou.
M. Jules St.-Ange stood long, gazing at the receding vessel as it now disappeared, now re-appeared beyond the tops of the high undergrowth; but, when an arm of the forest hid it finally from sight, he turned townward, followed by that f.a.gged-out spaniel, his servant, saying, as he turned, "Baptiste."
"_Miche?_"
"You know w"at I goin" do wid dis money?"
"_Non, m"sieur._"