These post-mortem inquiries, like all other functions of the time, presented most ridiculous contrasts. While the circling carrion crows were looking for dead negroes in the river and swamps, the negro women in the cabins and kitchens were watching the movements of the coroner; and whenever the public became advised "dat de corps ob humans was to be sot upon" if the news came in the dead of the night, an outcry would go from cabin to cabin; dusky faces would appear at dirty windows and an inquiry in staccato from some sister would arouse her neighbour.
"Oh! Sophia Ann, has yu heerd de news, or is yu pine blank ded? De crowner has dun und put de saddle on ole "sametary" und de saddle-bags und de jimmyjon too, und agwine ter set on er corps fortwid."
"Hush! sister Becky," would come the answer; "Aint you got anudder tack of hystericks;" and rayless jaundiced lights would appear in windows; then the screeching of fowls in the coops, then pots would simmer and boil; then little Bill would be jerked out of bed with the angry exclamation, "Fore de King, I believes dis heer yungun would sleep clar froo de jedgment day und wudn"t heer nary trumpet. Git outen heer yu Bill und fetch dat ar steer und de kaart fore de door fortwid." And then Bill, yawning and gaping and grunting, and twisting his arms over his black head, would stagger with tangled feet to the stable and command,
"c.u.m outen dis heer door ole Link.u.m fore I whacks yu ober de hed wid dis heer palin." And then old Link.u.m would toss his head and start towards Bill with a boo--o-o and then back into his stall with another boo-oo, and then Maria would shout from the kitchen,
"Yu Bill has yu und ole Link.u.m gone plum ter sleep? Why don"t yu fetch dat aggrawating steer outen dar?" And then she would turn to pack away the pies and chickens in the basket, and then ole Link.u.m and Bill and Maria and "Ladybird," the ugly fice dog, would be reinforced upon the road by a picturesque caravan. There would be women and children of all sizes, ages and conditions; then the hard cider carts, fakirs and pie women, then the old parson and the deacons and the singing sisters, then the man with a hand organ and a monkey, then a score of yelping hounds, curs and fices, then the coroner in battered beaver and green goggles, astride his flopped-eared, flee-bitten mule, "ole Samitary," all with laughter, jest and song hurrying to the scene of the catastrophe; while the poor misguided subjects of the investigation would be staring with great lack-l.u.s.tre eyes into the sky.
Upon this occasion the rising sun as he pa.s.sed through the mist veiled his face from a spectacle terribly ghastly. Four black corpses in silks and satins and tawdry lace, with upturned faces, lay rigid with a seasaw motion in the ooze and water; and a huge black object, like the back of a leviathan with striped banners in his nostrils, dammed up the stream that flowed with a sluggish current from the river. This then was the end of the carnival; the due return upon the writ of ejectment.
What utopian dreams were whispered into ears into which the eddying waters were intoning a refrain! Shall the mistress of Ingleside descend into this cold, forbidding flood with the keys of her broad domain, and place them as a symbolical delivery of t.i.tle into hands so rigid and nerveless, that never guarded its portals with one night"s vigil? Shall the officers of the law, under these broken arches, endorse a due return upon the writ of ejectment? When we see the star spangled banner down there, dyeing the waters as it seemed with blood, "with the Union" down, does it bind us to an allegiance to the powers that sent these outlaws upon their mission of a.s.sa.s.sination.
Joshua was very wretched when he heard of the horrifying disaster that overreached the human beagles that were pursuing their quarry so heartlessly. Old negroes like Joshua and Ned were fast becoming disillusioned; they had danced attendance to Laflin and his pampered slaves when they were desperately hungry; they had marched and counter marched, when from sheer weakness they could scarcely keep step to the fife and drum; they had seen the hollow pageantry; had heard the discordant fanfares from brazen trumpets; the mockery of commands to "fall in" and to "fall out;" indeed they had been lashed to the treadmill of fatiguing servitude when there wasn"t a bazaar or a sutler"s shop into which they could enter and beg a morsel of bread; and when they "broke ranks" there wasn"t a ration of meat or flour distributed to the old hulks that were to all intents and purposes out of commission. Joshua felt that all the events and catastrophes of this mortal life were in some mysterious way the annotations of Sacred Writ, and hence as he clothed himself in the spic-span homespun garments that Alice had given him, he said to his wife,
"Now eff I kin ever find my old bever, und my specks, I"m agwine to ax Miss Alice what de scriptur says erbout dis insurreckshun. Cording to my membrance when de Mallyskites flung ole Farro outen de charryot into de sea, dat Fillisten ginril was imitating Ellick in his devilishness; haint dat scriptur, Hannah?"
Hannah looked up from her wash-board with earnestness and with just a suggestion of temper as she observed:
"Whicherway in de scriptur duz yu find dat pa.s.sage? Cordin to my membrance dare want none of dem charryots in dem deys epsepting Lijah"s, und hit warn"t hitched to no hosses."
As Joshua was going toward the mansion he said to himself, "Dey is agwine to spishun ole marsa wid killing dem n.i.g.g.e.rs, und den de werry ole harrykin is gwine to brake loose in dis plantashun. Grate Jarryko!
Ef it c.u.ms to de wursest me und Ned und Clarsy und Hanna is agwine to stan twixt him und dem twell de eend."
It appears to be exclusively the prerogative of women to be the burden bearers for others; a.s.suredly this virtue was heroically exercised by the beautiful girl, whose heart was all sympathy for the misguided wretches. Not one thought, not a care, for her poor, defenceless self; all for the negroes who were drunken upon the lees of reconstruction, the poor slaves of a power they dared not oppose.
"Uncle Joshua," she asked in tears "Have you heard the sad fate of Aleck and Ephraim?"
"Yes, marm, I dun und heerd de news dis mornin fo sun up, und I"m missurble fur yer und ole marsa, missis. Dis werry sa.s.sinashun c.u.m to my membrunce las nite twixt lebben "clock und day, und when hit wuz fust norated er roun, I ses ter Hanner, sez I, Dar now! I spishuned dat werry axydent wuz ergwine ter happ"n. Und Hanner she ups und sez, sez she, "How c.u.m yer node mo dan tuther humans? Is yer er possel ur a w.a.n.gel?"
Und den I upped und tole her, und hit c.u.m erbout in disser fashun, missis: A bitter sadness lay upon my piller las nite, yung missis, und way in de shank o" de nite I seed yo precious mammy, und she wur er weepin lak her po hart wud brake, und I sed to her, sez I, "Ole missis, haint dat yu?" Und den she smoled one leetle smole, und den she sed, sez she, "Ole n.i.g.g.e.r, I"m so missurble, for my dear husbun und my preshus child are in danger; won"t yu help em?" Und den she pinted her lily finger down de appenu toards de crick, and den I heerd her say, sez she, "Rite dare is whar de n.i.g.g.e.rs is ergwine ter kill my po dears;" und den she banished lak a sperret outen my site. Fo Gawd, yung missis, dem dar wurds sont a shower ob isickles all ober me."
This simple, affecting narrative chilled the heart of poor Alice, too, and her grief became as frigid as if smitten by polar frosts.
Oh, what would Alice give for the reign of peace, of law in this Idumea of the South! "Why prepare these watery sepulchres for the freedmen whose hopes have been built upon their delusive pledges? Why starve and drown them as if they were vermin, without aspirations and without souls? Who can excel these authors of misrule in the fine art of a.s.sa.s.sination?" she asked.
Clarissa stood at the side of her young mistress, whilst Joshua, as if by inspiration, was narrating the vision of the night. She was transfixed with terror, and shaking from head to foot she exclaimed:
"Bress Gawd! dis is de eend ob hit all--fust c.u.ms de belliun, den de hosses und de charryot, den def!"
"Stop rite dar! Stop rite dar, Clarsy! Nary nudder wurd," exclaimed Joshua with emphasis. "Don"t de scriptur say how dat whot is ergwine ter c.u.m is ergwine ter c.u.m? Und ef hit haint er gwine ter c.u.m hit haint ergwine ter c.u.m; why, in cose; ef me und Ned hez ary grane ob spishun erbout Miss Alice und ole ma.r.s.er, me und him is ergwine to uprare a barrykade rite at de grate house, und dey will be drib back lak de Mallyskites. Yu jess hole yer gripe upon Proverdense und grace, Clarsy, und den we kin fling de charryots und de hosses in de creek agen, und ole ma.r.s.er und yung missis will be saved."
"Grate king!" replied Clarissa, still greatly alarmed. "Yu mout ez well uprare dat barrykade rite now; kase when dem n.i.g.g.e.rs sees dese drounded corpses er see-sawin in de creek, day is ergwine ter c.u.m down on dis hear grate house same ez de yaller flies on dem pided steers out yander in de mash."
"Yu is too brash, sister," replied Joshua. "I haint ergwine ter hab dem debbils spishunin dat dar"s a trap sot fo I gits. .h.i.t sot. When de moon gits back yander hind de trees. .h.i.t will be sot, und I aims fur yu ter pull de trigger."
"Oh, my king!" blurted out Clarissa, as she wrung her hands, "und sposin hit don"t go off ur nuffin; den whot? Dis heer po n.i.g.g.e.r wud immytate wun ob dem sojers dat wuz dug outen de krater way ole Mars Jon got his def wound. Ef dat ar trap is sot its bleeged ter be upsot by sumbody dat"s got mo ambishun agen his kuller dan I is, yu heers my racket!"
exclaimed Clarissa in great excitement.
Joshua was the first to interview the dead bandits. I can see him squatted upon his haunches with palsied finger pointed at the fishy eyes exclaiming;
"Dar now square Wiggins jess see what yu is fotched up agen at las. I dun und tole yu so; now haint yu dun und dun it er trying to skeer ole ma.r.s.er outen de grate house; mout heb node yu was ergwine to git obertook by sum jedgment ur udder. I don"t spishun nuffin else dat fo dis devilish konstruckshun is dun wid, dare haint ergwine to be er live n.i.g.g.e.r in de Nunited States; und de biggerty n.i.g.g.e.rs like yu und Efrum is ergwine to mak hit wusser fur tuther fokeses. Yu dun und dun de wussest fing yu ebber dun in yo born days, when yu sot down in dat dare kerrige wid all dem flags er flying at de hine eend lak er sho nuff surkuss; und deres yo po innosen wife er follerin yu backards und furrards lak yu was ole Farro kommandin de yurth, er lying down dare same as a drownded warmint in de crick, und her po leetle yunguns crying mammy! mammy! und all dun und dun kase yu started a hullyberlo erbout ole ma.r.s.er"s plantashun; wurf mo den all de dratted n.i.g.g.e.rs big und leetle on de top side of de yurth; und kase yu fotched ole Shurmun"s army wid dare muskits in de ded ob de nite to tak ole ma.r.s.er und yung missis ded er live. I nebber seed er n.i.g.g.e.r lak yu play biggerty dat de good Lord didn"t slam to de yurth wid his jedgments. Pend "pon it de Lord is gwine to git de under holt ebery time." And all the time Aleck lay with great lack-l.u.s.tre eyes staring and grinning at Joshua. "Und yu is down dare too Efrum wid dem yaller upperlips, pine plank lak de sun flowers in de jam of Hanna"s gyarden er bobbin up und down same as a kildee in de mash; und boff of yu er smokin in de tarnel h.e.l.l farr. Und all c.u.m erbout kase dere"s too much freedum in de lan. I nebber seed a drounded n.i.g.g.e.r fore de bellion fell in all my born days, and now yer kaint fro yer hook in de crick fur a catfish yer aint skeered yu mout git tangled up wid a drounded n.i.g.g.e.r."
Joshua paused to wipe the perspiration from his face with his ragged coat sleeve, and the great black crowd moved as by a common impulse to the brink of the stream and gazed with a contrariety of emotions upon the drowned negroes. The goggle eyed coroner with his beaver in his hand stepped a little to the front and commanded attention.
"Breddin," he said, "dars a time to live und dars a time to die, und ef I must s.p.a.ciate upon def befo dis conjugation I mout say dat he c.u.ms in a heap aways und a heap er fashuns; den agin he c.u.ms when he hedn"t ought ter c.u.m. He c.u.m dis time when he hedn"t ought ter c.u.m und he hes flung de hole goverment out of jint."
"Und I specks de boss will be bleeged ter mak a signment ob de a.s.sets of North Caliny. Fur de lans sake," exclaimed Joshua, "let me git wun moufful ef she"s agwine to bust." Without noting the interruption, however, the coroner proceeded:
"I"m agwine ter ax brudder Skyles de slidin elder to lead us all in prayer, und ter bless de Lord dat de crowner und jurer is rite heer to sympathize with our bereaved friends in the bonds of iniquity."
Aleck and his ill fated friends were still sea-sawing in the water and after the prayer the man with the hand organ and the monkey began to play in squeaky, stridulous tones "The girl I left behind me."
Joshua the octogenarian, was among the men who were chosen upon the jury.
"Now den what is yer gemman gwine ter side erbout dese drounded corpses?" asked the coroner. There was a long painful pause when a very venerable negro confronted the coroner with this enquiry;
"I rises to a question ob pribilige sar. I wishes to quire, ef a crowbar mout be er witniss in his own beharf, sar?"
"Sartanly sar, sartanly," answered the coroner:
"How is yer agwine to swar hit?" he continued.
"Now yer oversizes my sigga.s.sity sar; yer axes pine blank" said the coroner, raising his spectacles with great dignity, ""How dis jurer is agwine to swar a crowbar;" is dat hit?"
"Yas sar," replied the negro.
"What sez yer gemman ob de jurer to dis qustun," asked the coroner.
After laying their heads together, a juror pompously observed.
"Dat he hed seed a horg crost questuned in de kote, und he convicted de prisner."
"Were he a white man?" the jury asked.
"No sar, dat time de prisoner was a cullud gemman sar."
"Aye, Aye," they exclaimed in chorus.
"Und de nex time I seed a pare of galluses convict a prisner."
"Was he a cullud gemman?" again they asked.
"No sar, he were a po white man."
"Jess so, Jess so," they again exclaimed with infinite satisfaction.
"Fetch dat crowbar in heer und tell where yer git him," said the coroner.
"I scovered him under de bridge," the negro answered.