But when with those of his own color, or with the humbler cla.s.ses, he gave them the musical vernacular of the region--rude traditional quicksteps and songs, strung together with such variations of his own as made him the envy and despair of all other fiddlers in the vicinity.
Indeed, he could rarely get away from a great house without a sample of his powers in this direction, and then blending with the rhythmical cadence of feet, the rustle of garments, would be evoked ripples of mirth and bursts of laughter that were echoed back from the dim pine-groves without. Finally, when with his great foot beating time on the floor and every muscle of his body in motion, he ended with an original arrangement of "Dixie," the eyes of the gentlest maiden would flash as she joined the chorus of the men in gray, who were scarcely less excited for the moment than they would have been in a headlong cavalry charge.
These were moments of glory for Jeff. In fact, on all similar occasions he had a consciousness of his power; he made the slave forget his bondage, the poor whites their poverty, maidens the absence of their fathers, brothers, and lovers, and the soldier the chances against his return.
At last there came a summer day when other music than that of Jeff"s fiddle resounded through that region. Two armies met and grappled through the long sultry hours. Every moment death wounds were given and received, for thick as insects in woods, grove, and thicket, bullets whizzed on their fatal mission; while from every eminence the demoniacal sh.e.l.ls shrieked in exultation over the havoc they wrought.
Jeff"s home was on the edge of the battlefield, and as he trembled in the darkest corner of the cellar, he thought, "Dis yer beats all de thunder-gusts I eber heered crack, run togedder in one big hurricane."
With the night came silence, except as it was broken by the groans and cries of wounded men; and later the contending forces departed, having accorded to the fallen such poor burial as was given them when life was cheap and death the chief harvester in Virginia.
For a day or two Jeff"s conscience was active, and the memory of the resolutions inspired by the din of war gave to his thin visage a preternatural seriousness. Dishes were washed in such brief time and so thoroughly, and such havoc made in the garden-weeds that the world might make a note of Jeff"s idea of reform (to its advantage). In the evening his fiddle wailed out psalm-tunes to the entire exclusion of its former carnal strains.
It must be admitted, however, that Jeff"s grace was like the early dew.
On the third evening, "Ole Dan Tucker" slipped in among the hymns, and these were played in a time scarcely befitting their character. Then came a bit of news that awakened a wholly different train of thought and desire. A colored boy, more venturous than himself, was said to have picked up some "Link.u.m" money on the battlefield. This information shed on the wild wooded tract where the war trumpet had raged the most fiercely a light more golden than that of the moon then at its full; and Jeff resolved that with the coming night he also would explore a region which, nevertheless, had nameless terrors for him.
"Ef dere"s spooks anywhere dey"s dereaway," he muttered over his hoe; "but den, ki! dey woan "fere wid dis yer n.i.g.g.ah. What hab I"se got ter do wid de wah and de fighten an de jabbin"? De spooks cyant lay nuffin ter me eben ef ole ma.r.s.e an" de res" am a-fighten ter keep dere slabes, as folks say."
Having thus satisfied himself that the manes of the dead thousands could have no controversy with him, Jeff mustered sufficient resolution to visit the field that night. He took no one into his confidence, fearing if he discovered treasures of any kind he could not be left in undisturbed possession. During the day the rudiments of imagination which made him a musician had been conjuring up the possible results of his expedition.
"De ting fer dis cullud pusson ter do is ter p"ramberlate ter de Link.u.m lines. Ki! I doan wan" what drap outen OUR sogers" pockets. I kin git Virginny leaf widouten runnin" "mong de spooks arter it. De place fer a big fine is whar de brush is tick and de Link.u.m men crawl away so dey woan be tromp on. Who knows but I kin fine a place whar a ginral hide hisself? Ob cose if he hab a lot of gole he"d stick it in de bush or kiver it right smart, so dat oders moutn"t get it foh he could helf hisself."
Jeff thought he had reasoned himself into such a valorous state that he could walk across the deserted battlefield with nonchalance; but as he entered on a deeply shadowed dirt-road long since disused to any extent, he found strange creeping sensations running up and down his back. The moonlight filtered through the leaves with fantastic effects.
A young silver poplar looked ghastly in the distance; and now and then a tree out off by a shot looked almost human in its mutilation.
He had not gone very far before he saw what appeared to be the body of a man lying across the road. With a sudden chill of blood he stopped and stared at the object. Gradually it resolved itself into a low mound in the dim light. Approaching cautiously, he discovered with a dull sense of horror that a soldier had been buried where he had fallen, but covered so slightly that the tumulus scarcely more than outlined his form.
"Ob cose I knowed I d hab ter see dese tings foh I started. What I such a fool fer? De Feds nor de Yanks am" a-gwine ter bodder me if I am"
steppin" on "em or ober "em." And he went scrupulously on the other side of the road.
By and by, however, he came to a part of the wood-lane where men had fallen by the score, and bodies had been covered in twos, threes, and dozens. His head felt as if his very wool were straightening itself out, as he wound here and there and zigzagged in all directions lest he should step on or over a grave. A breeze stirred the forest as if all the thousands buried in its shades had heaved a long deep sigh. With chattering teeth Jeff stopped to listen, then, rea.s.sured, continued to pick his tortuous way. Suddenly there was an ominous rustling in a thicket just behind. He broke into a headlong flight across and over everything, when the startled grunt of a hog revealed the prosaic nature of this spook. Scarcely any other sound could have been more rea.s.suring. The animal suggested bacon and hominy and hoe-cake, everything except the ghostly. He berated himself angrily:
"Ki! you n.i.g.g.ah! dat ar hog got mo" co"age dan you. He know he hab nuffin mo" ter do wid de spooks dan you hab. De run ain" far, and when I gits ober dat de spooks on de side dis way cyant cross arter me;" and he hastened toward the spot where he supposed the Federals had been ma.s.sed the most heavily, crossing an open field and splashing through a shallow place in the river, that their ghost-ships might be reminded of running water.
On the further slope were the same sad evidences of poor mortality, graves here and there and often all too shallow, broken muskets, bullet perforated canteens and torn knapsacks--the debris of a pitched battle.
Many trees and shrubs were so lacerated that their foliage hung limp and wilting, while boughs with shrivelled leaves strewed the ground.
Nature"s wounds indicated that men had fought here and been mutilated as ruthlessly.
For a time nothing of value rewarded Jeff"s search, and he began to succ.u.mb to the grewsome a.s.sociations of the place. At last he resolved to examine one more thicket that bordered an old rail-fence, and then make a long detour rather than go back by the graveyard road over which he had come. Pushing the bushes aside, he peered among their shadows for some moments, and then uttered an exclamation of surprise and terror as he bounded backward. There was no mistake this time; he had seen the figure of a man with a ray of moonlight filtering through the leaves on a ghastly bullet-hole in his temple. He sat with his back against the fence, and had not moved after receiving the shock. At his feet, dropped evidently from his nerveless hand, lay a metal box. All had flashed almost instantaneously on Jeff"s vision.
For some moments he was in doubt whether to take to his heels homeward or reconnoitre again. The soldier sat in such a lifelike att.i.tude that while Jeff knew the man must be dead, taking the box seemed like robbing the living. Yes, worse than that, for, to the superst.i.tious negro, the dead soldier appeared to be watching his treasure.
Jeff"s cupidity slowly mastered his fears. Cautiously approaching the figure, he again pushed aside the screening boughs, and with chattering teeth and trembling limbs, looked upon the silent guardian of the treasure, half expecting the dead man to raise his head, and warn him off with a threatening gesture. Since the figure remained motionless, Jeff made a headlong plunge, clutched the box, then ran half a mile without thinking to look back.
Not for his life would he cross the battlefield again; so it was late when by wide circuit he approached the dwelling of his mistress. His panic had gradually subsided, and as he noted familiar objects, he felt that he was beyond the proper range of the unjust spirits of the dead.
The soldier he had left sitting against the fence troubled him, it is true; and he was not quite sure that he was through with one so palpably robbed. That he had not been followed appeared certain; that the question of future ownership of the treasure could be settled was a matter of superst.i.tious belief. There was only one way--he must hide the box in a secret nook, and if it remained undisturbed for a reasonable length of time, he might hope for its undisturbed enjoyment.
Accordingly he stole into a dense copse and buried his booty at the foot of a persimmon-tree, then gained his humble quarter and slept so late and soundly that he had to be dragged almost without the door the next morning before he shook off his lethargy.
CHAPTER II
ITS INFLUENCE
With the exception of apt.i.tude which enabled Jeff to catch and fix a tune in his mind with a fair degree of correctness, his mental processes were slow. Moreover, whether he should ever have any trouble with "spooks" or not, one thing was true of him, as of many others in all stations of life, he was haunted by the ghost of a conscience. This uneasy spirit suggested to him with annoying iteration that his proceedings the night before had been of very unusual and doubtful character. When at last fully awake, he sought to appease the accusing voice by unwonted diligence in all his tasks, until the fat cook, a devout Baptist, took more than one occasion to say, "You"se in a promisin" frame, Jeff. Ef I"se ony shoah dat yer hole out long anuff ter get "mersed, I"d hab hopes on yer, but, law! yer"ll be a-fiddlin"
de debil"s tunes "fo" de week is out. I"se afeared dat dere must be an awful prov"dence, like a battle or harricane, onst a week, ter keep yer ser"ous;" and the old woman sniffed down at him with ill-concealed disdain from her superior spiritual height.
Jeff was as serious as could have been wished all that day, for there was much on his mind. Perplexing questions tinged with supernatural terrors tormented him. Pa.s.sing over those having a moral point, the most urgent one was, "S"pose dat ar soger miss him box an come arter it ternight. Ki! If I go ter see, I mout run right on ter de spook. I"se a-gwine ter gib "im his chance, an" den take mine." So that evening Jeff fortified himself and increased the cook"s hope by a succession of psalm-tunes in which there was no lapse toward the "debil"s" music.
Next morning, after a long sleep, Jeff"s nerves were stronger, and he began to take a high hand with conscience.
"Dat ar soger has hab his chance," he reasoned. "Ef he want de box he mus" "a" com arter it las" night. I"se done bin fa"r wid him, an" now ter-night, ef dat ar box ain" "sturbed, I"se a-gwine ter see de "scription an" heft on it. Toder night I was so "fuscated dat I couldn"t know nuffin straight."
When all were sleeping, he stole to the persimmon-tree and was elated to find his treasure where he had slightly buried it. The little box seemed heavy, and was wholly unlike anything he ever seen before.
"Ob cose it"s got money in it," Jeff reasoned. "Nuffin else "ud be done up to tight and strong. I"se woan open it jes" yet, feared de missus or de colored boys "spec" someting. Ki! I isn"t a-gwine ter be tied up, an" hab dat box whip out in me. I"ll tink how I kin hide an" spen" de money kine of slowcution like." With this he restored the prize to its shallow excavation and covered it with leaves that no trace of fresh earth might be visible.
Jeff"s deportment now began to evince a new evolution in mental and moral process. The influence of riches was quite as marked upon him as upon so many of his white brothers and sisters, proving their essential kinship. To-day he began to sniff disdainfully at his menial tasks; and in the evening "Ole Dan Tucker" resounded from his fiddle with a rollicking abandon over which the cook groaned in despair, "Dat ar n.i.g.g.ah"s "ligion drop off ob "im like a yaller pig from de bush.
"Ligion dat"s skeert inter us hain"t no "count anyhow."
During the next few days it was evident that Jeff was falling from grace rapidly. Never had he been so slow and careless in his tasks.
More than once the thought crossed his mind that he had better take his box and "cut stick" for Washington, where he believed that wealth and his fiddle would give him prominence over his race. For prudential and other reasons he was in no haste to open the box, preferring rather to gloat over it and to think how he could spend the money to the greatest advantage. He had been paying his court to a girl as black as himself on a neighboring plantation; but he now regarded that affair as preposterous.
"She ain" good nuff fer me no mo"," he reasoned. "I"se a-gwine ter shine up ter dat yeller Suky dat"s been a-holdin" her head so high ober ter Ma.r.s.e Perkins"s. I"se invited ter play ober dar ter-night, an" I"ll make dat gal open her eye. Ki! she tinks no culled gemmen in dese parts fit ter hole a cannle when she braid her long straight ha"r, but when she see de ribbin I kin git her ter tie dat ha"r up wid, an" de earrings I kin put in her ears, she larf on toder side ob her face.
"Fo" I go I"se a-gwine ter buy dat ar gole ring ob Sam Milkins down at de tavern. S"pose it does take all I"se been sabin" up, I"se needn"t sabe any mo". Dat ar box got nuff in it ter keep me like a lawd de rest ob my life. I"d open it ter-night if I wasn"t goin" ter Ma.r.s.e Perkins"s."
Jeff carried out his high-handed measures and appeared that evening at "Ma.r.s.e Perkins"s" with a ring of portentous size squeezed on the little finger of his left hand. It had something of the color of gold, and that is the best that can be said of it; but it had left its purchaser penniless. This fact sat lightly on Jeff"s mind, however, as he remembered the box at the foot of the persimmon-tree; and he stalked into the detached kitchen, where a dusky a.s.semblage were to indulge in a shuffle, with the air of one who intends that his superiority shall be recognized at once.
"Law sakes, Jeff!" said Mandy, his. .h.i.therto ebon flame, "yer comes in like a turkey gobbler. Doesn"t yer know me?"
"Sartin I know yer, Mandy. You"se a good gal in you"se way, but, law!
you"se had yer spell. A culled gemmen kin change his min" when he sees dat de "finity"s done gone."
"Look here, Jeff Wobbles, does yer mean ter give me de sack?"
"I mean ter gib yer good-ebenin", Miss Mandy Munson. Yer kyant "spec" a gemmen to be degaged in de music an" a gal at de same time," replied Jeff, with oppressive gravity.
"Mister Johnsing, I"se tank yer fo" yer arm," said Mandy to a man near, with responsive dignity. "Yer wait on me here, an" yer kin wait on me home. I"se "shamed on mysef dat I took up wid a lout dat kin do nuffin but fiddle; but I was kine ob sorry fer him, he sich a fool."
"Go "long," remarked Jeff, smiling mysteriously. "Ef yer knowed, yer "ud be wringin" yer han"s wuss dan yer did at de las" "tracted meetin".
Ah, Miss Suky, dat you?" and Jeff for the first time doffed his hat.
"Wat"s in de win", Jeff, dat yer so scrumptious an" b.u.mptious like dis ebenin"?" Suky asked a trifle scornfully.
"Wen de "freshments pa.r.s.e "roun", I"se "steem it a oblergation ter me ef yer"ll let me bring yer de cake an" cider. I"se sumpin fer yer.
Gemmen an" ladies, took yer places," he added in a stentorian voice; "I ax yer" sideration fer bein" late, cose I had "portant business; now,