"Ma.r.s.e Joe workin" in de ga"den, an" he say if you want see him you best come wha" he is."
"That"s an insult that I won"t put up with from no babolitionist," declared Bud, who was about as angry as he could hold; and one would have thought, from the vicious way he settled his rifle on his shoulder and crunched the gravel under his feet as he strode around the house, that he would surely do something when he found himself face to face with the object of his wrath.
The first thing that attracted the visitor"s attention was a very broad back covered by a clean white shirt (Bud detested "boiled" shirts, for he had never had one of his own), and when the owner of that back straightened up and turned toward him, Bud was confronted by a man who stood six feet four without his boots, and was built in proportion. He had tucked up his sleeves to keep them from being soiled, and the white forearms thus exposed were as muscular as a blacksmith"s. He had been waiting for this visit, for his boy Sam, who came from town a quarter of an hour before, had told him just what happened in the store, and warned his master that Bud had said in his speech that he was on the war-path, and meant to drive every abolitionist out of the country before he quit. But for all that the minister greeted Bud pleasantly.
"Well, neighbor Goble, what do you find to shoot this time of year?" said he. "It is rather early for young squirrels, and turkey and deer will not be on the game list before September."
"I aint a-lookin" for little game," answered Bud gruffly. "I"m huntin" for babolitionists, an" you"re one of "em."
"Well, now that you have found me what do you purpose doing about it?" inquired the stalwart minister, smiling at Bud in a way the latter did not like. Perhaps it wasn"t going to be so easy, after all, to frighten him into handing over a ham or a side of meat.
"I came here pur_pose_ly to tell you that you an" your kind aint wanted round yer no longer," said Bud. "You take babolition papers an" give "em to old Toby to read."
"Can you prove that a.s.sertion?"
"Yes, I can. I seen one of "em in his shanty last night, an" had it into my hand."
"But can you prove that I gave it to him?"
"Yes, I can," repeated End, growing bolder by degrees. "Everybody in town says it"s you who spreads them papers around, kase there"s no one else who is low enough down to "sociate with n.i.g.g.e.rs."
"That will do. I have heard enough of such talk."
"But I aint got half through," protested Bud. "One man told me, not more"n half an hour ago, that if he could prove it was you who give Toby them papers, he would have you licked before sun-up."
"Ah! And what would I do?"
"What would you do?" echoed Bud, who did not quite catch the minister"s meaning. "You"d have to cl"ar yourself or take another an" wuss lickin". Go up to the United States where you b"long. You aint wanted here."
"You don"t understand me. If the gentleman of whom you spoke should attempt any violence, would I submit to it without trying to defend myself? I don"t think I should. I have a double gun with fifteen buckshot in each barrel, and you may say you have been a.s.sured by me that I will shoot the first man who puts a hostile foot on my gallery [porch]. Now go."
"Then you"ll shoot-"
"Go!" interrupted the minister; and Bud ought to have been warned by the flash in his eye that he was thoroughly in earnest.
"The best men in town say-"
"Will you go peaceably," said the minister, pointing toward the gate, "or shall I be obliged to pick you up and throw you off my grounds?"
He took a single step forward as he spoke, and in an instant Bud Goble jumped back and swung his rifle from his shoulder; but before he could think twice his antagonist, whose agility equaled his strength, was upon him, the weapon was twisted from his grasp, and Bud buried his face in the soft earth of a flower-bed. But the minister was not yet done with him. Holding the rifle in one hand he seized Bud by the neck with the other, jerked him to his feet, and walked him out of the gate and into the road at double time. Then he fired the rifle into the air and leaned the weapon against the fence.
"I think this ends our interview, neighbor Goble," said he, without the least sign of anger or excitement, "and I will bid you good-day. The next time you visit me come in a proper frame of mind, and I will receive you accordingly; but please do not bring me any more threatening messages."
"This beats me," soliloquized Goble, who, after seeing the minister disappear around the corner of the house, felt of the back of his neck to make sure that the strong fingers which grasped it a moment before had not left any holes there. "Who"d a thought that a preacher could a had sich an amazin" grip? I wasn"t no more"n a babby in his hands. Now what"s to be done? Be I goin" to put up with sich an insult? I guess I"d best set down yer an" think about it."
Bud Goble was a thoroughly subdued man now. The events of the morning had satisfied him that open warfare was not his best hold, and that if he hoped to accomplish anything and retain the confidence of the committee, he must make a decided change in his tactics. He must work in secret and under cover of the darkness, and now when it was too late, he wished he had adopted that method at the outset. If he had he wouldn"t have lost his reputation. There were two men in the neighborhood he was quite sure he would not trouble again unless he had a strong force at his back, for they had threatened to shoot, and Bud believed they were just reckless enough to do it. When he reached this point in his meditations he chanced to look up and saw old Uncle Toby emerge from the thicket on one side of the road, take a few long, rapid steps, and disappear among the bushes on the other side. He held something tightly clasped under his coat, and seemed so anxious to avoid observation that Bud"s suspicions were aroused at once.
CHAPTER IX.
THE COMMITTEE AT WORK.
Elder Bowen"s negro boy Sam, who was working among the flower-beds with his master, sought safety in flight when Bud Goble"s coming was announced, and, standing concealed behind an evergreen in the garden, saw and heard all that pa.s.sed between the minister and the man who had come there to browbeat him. When Bud was ejected from the grounds Sam came out from his hiding-place grinning broadly.
"Ma.r.s.e Joe," said he, as soon as he could make himself understood, "dat beats all de sermons you ever preached all holler. It does so. But, Ma.r.s.e Joe, I "fraid Ma.r.s.e Gobble gwine make ole Toby trouble all along of dat babolition paper. De nex" time he go dar he ax Uncle Toby whar he got dat money of his"n stowed away. Dat"s what I "fraid of, sah."
"I didn"t think of that, and perhaps it would be well for you to run over and put Toby on his guard," replied Mr. Bowen. "Neighbor Goble is on the war-path sure enough, and he would just as soon rob that old negro as to rob a white man. Tell Toby to give the money into his master"s keeping."
Sam obeyed instructions, but we have seen that the suspicious old Toby was not willing to listen to advice. He was terribly alarmed when Sam told him what Bud had been about that morning, and taking advantage of his master"s absence, and of his own position as helper about the stables, he dug up his money which he had buried before daylight, and posted off to the academy to have a talk with one of the Gray boys. He kept to the fields and gave the roads a wide berth; but he was obliged to cross one highway during his journey, and that was the time Bud Goble saw him. The old negro"s actions excited Bud"s interest as well as his suspicions, and having nothing else to do, he rose from his log and followed him.
And right here it is necessary to make a short explanation in order that you may understand what happened afterward. Rodney and Marcy Gray had been studying at the academy for almost four years, and although they were popular among all cla.s.ses in and around Barrington, there were some, whites as well as blacks, who invariably got them mixed up, and never could tell one from the other unless they chanced to meet them in company. It was Rodney, the rebel, who helped Bud Goble when his family were all prostrated with the ague, and offered him a reward for finding that underground railroad, but it was Marcy, the Union boy, who picked the banjo with superior skill, danced and sung his way into the affections of the plantation darkies, and saved old Toby"s melon-patch from being devastated by the students. These two had eaten a good many of old Toby"s melons, and more than one Thanksgiving turkey which graced his table had been bought with their money. Believing from what Sam told him that his hard-earned wealth was not safe as long as he knew where it was, Toby decided that one of these two boys, the one he happened to find first, should be its custodian. d.i.c.k Graham, who was on duty at the front gate, told him where Marcy was, and the old man lost no time in making his way through the woods to his friend"s beat. But Marcy declined to accept the responsibility, as we have seen, and so Toby took the money back and hid it in the ground whence he had taken it. He would have been better off-almost two hundred dollars better off-if he had done as Mr. Bowen and Marcy advised him to do; for Bud Goble dogged his footsteps every rod of the way, and Toby never once suspected it. Bud did not hear what pa.s.sed between Toby and the sentry-he dared not go close enough for that; but he saw the stocking that went back and forth between the iron pickets of the fence, and he was in plain sight of the negro when he returned it to its hiding-place.
Here again Toby made a great mistake. If he had concealed the money under his cabin, within hearing and scenting distance of the c.o.o.n dogs that were so numerous in the quarter, it would have been comparatively safe; but he was so very much averse to having it around him that he took it behind his garden-patch, rolled a decayed log from its bed and buried it there, covering it with his hands, and rolling the log back to its place.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TOBY HIDES THE MONEY.]
"Dar now," said Toby, loud enough to be overheard by the man who was crouching in the bushes not more than twenty yards away. "Nuffin can"t find it dar "ceptin" de hogs, an" dey can"t eat it."
"That"s a fact," soliloquized Goble, chuckling to himself. "But a two-legged hog like me can eat an" wear the things it will buy. Who keers for preachers an" storekeepers now? "Pears like this mornin"s work is goin" to turn out all right after all; don"t it to you?"
Through the rails of the fence Bud Goble watched Toby until he disappeared in the quarter, and then he crept up to the log. In ten minutes more old Toby"s money was tightly b.u.t.toned under the breast of his coat, and Bud, highly elated with the result of his morning"s labor was taking long strides toward his cabin.
"I aint got the dress an" shoes I promised to have for ye when I come home," said Bud, when he burst in upon his wife, whom he found engaged in her usual occupation-sitting in front of the fire with her elbows upon her knees and a cob pipe between her teeth. "Old man Bailey wouldn"t trust me, but Toby wasn"t so perticular. He hid this here stockin" under a log, an" bein" afeared that the hogs might come along an" root it up an" carry it away, I jest thought I"d take keer on it for him," added Bud, laughing loudly at his own wit.
The woman"s eyes glistened as she thrust her bony arm into the stocking and brought out a handful of shining silver coin. She would have her dress now in spite of old man Bailey; and as for Toby-she gave scarcely a thought to the consternation and alarm that would almost overwhelm him when he discovered his loss, for a field hand had no business to have a stocking half-full of money, when white folks did not know where their next meal was coming from. Her only fear was that Mr. Riley might somehow learn that Bud had taken the money, and then there would be trouble.
"You must look out for that yourself," Bud declared. "I"ve done my part, an" if you can"t hide the stockin" where n.o.body can"t find it, an" keep a still tongue in your head about our havin" it, you aint the woman I take you for. Now give me what you think your dress"ll cost, an" a trifle more to put in bacon an" meal, an" I"ll go an" get "em."
His wife complying with the request, Bud hung his rifle upon its hooks over the fireplace and posted off to Barrington, where a surprise, that was not altogether an agreeable one, awaited him. He could not find any of his friends, but every one on the street, with whom he exchanged a word of greeting, seemed to know all about the adventures he had had that day. Bud didn"t mind being told that he had permitted a little old man, who could not stand against a twelve-year-old boy, to scare him with a revolver, for he was not the only one in that sc.r.a.pe. Four other men had stood on the outside of the counter while Mr. Bailey talked to them as he pleased; but when folks came to joke him for being walked out of the yard by a preacher, it was more than he could endure.
"Jest let him get the grip on you that he got on me, an" he"ll make the best among ye walk turkey," Bud retorted sharply. "There aint a man in town that"s got any business with him, if he is a preacher. But let me tell ye: He aint by no means heared the last of me yet."
Bud saw signs of suppressed excitement on all sides and in the face of every man he met; but, conceited as he was, he could not believe that the excitement was occasioned by the incidents of which he had been the hero. They might have had something to do with the grave look he saw on Mr. Riley"s face as the latter hurried by him without speaking, but Bud believed that there was something else in the wind of which he had not heard. It had such a depressing effect upon him that he transacted his business with as little delay as possible and went home.
"There"s goin" to be doin"s of some sort or another about yer, an" before long, too," said he, as he handed his wife the articles he had bought for her, and deposited the bag containing the meal and bacon on the floor. "I don"t know what"s up, but Riley an" among "em look sorter uneasy. Mebbe that outbreak old woman, that"s what"s the matter, sure"s you"re born. That outbreak"s comin", an" who knows but it"ll be here this very night?"
"Good lands save us!" exclaimed Mrs. Goble, in alarm; and even her husband looked as though he would have liked to go to a little safer place than Barrington was, if he had only known where to find it.
"Yes, sir, that"s jest what"s the matter," repeated Bud. "Riley"s somehow got wind of it, an" that"s what made him look so glum. Why didn"t he stop an" tell me all about it, I"d like to know. I"ll jest tell him he mustn"t do that a-way no more, kase it aint right long"s I am workin" for that committee. Say," he continued, lowering his voice almost to a whisper. "When John Brown made that raid of his"n, Barrington was one of the places that was marked on his map to be burned, kase there was more n.i.g.g.e.rs here than white folks. "Member it, don"t you?"
"Good lands!" cried Mrs. Goble, who, if she had ever before heard of the circ.u.mstance, had quite forgotten all about it.
"That"s what Riley says," continued Bud, "an" who knows but the thing we"ve been a-dreadin" is comin" now? They do say that there"s guns an" things hid somewheres in the woods-"
"You don"t tell me!"
"It"s jest what I do tell ye, kase I"ve heard it often. Of course the n.i.g.g.e.rs knows where them guns is, an" when they an" the babolitionists like Elder Bowen get ready, they"ll fetch "em out an" go for us."