"Ho, ho!" said Sam, "skeery, ar ye?" and his black visage lighted up with a curious, mischievous gleam. "I"ll fix ye now!" said he.
There was a large beech-tree overshadowing the place, and the small, sharp, triangular beech-nuts lay scattered thickly on the ground. With one of these in his fingers, Sam approached the colt, stroked and patted, and seemed apparently busy in soothing his agitation. On pretence of adjusting the saddle, he adroitly slipped under it the sharp little nut, in such a manner that the least weight brought upon the saddle would annoy the nervous sensibilities of the animal, without leaving any perceptible graze or wound.
"Dar!" he said, rolling his eyes with an approving grin; "me fix "em!"
At this moment Mrs. Shelby appeared on the balcony, beckoning to him. Sam approached with as good a determination to pay court as did ever suitor after a vacant place at St. James" or Washington.
"Why have you been loitering so, Sam? I sent Andy to tell you to hurry."
"Lord bless you, Missis!" said Sam, "horses won"t be cotched all in a minit; they"d done clared out way down to the south pasture, and the Lord knows whar!"
"Sam, how often must I tell you not to say "Lord bless you, and the Lord knows," and such things? It"s wicked."
"O, Lord bless my soul! I done forgot, Missis! I won"t say nothing of de sort no more."
"Why, Sam, you just have said it again."
"Did I? O, Lord! I mean--I didn"t go fur to say it."
"You must be careful, Sam."
"Just let me get my breath, Missis, and I"ll start fair. I"ll be bery careful."
"Well, Sam, you are to go with Mr. Haley, to show him the road, and help him. Be careful of the horses, Sam; you know Jerry was a little lame last week; don"t ride them too fast."
Mrs. Shelby spoke the last words with a low voice, and strong emphasis.
"Let dis child alone for dat!" said Sam, rolling up his eyes with a volume of meaning. "Lord knows! High! Didn"t say dat!" said he, suddenly catching his breath, with a ludicrous flourish of apprehension, which made his mistress laugh, spite of herself. "Yes, Missis, I"ll look out for de hosses!"
"Now, Andy," said Sam, returning to his stand under the beech-trees, "you see I wouldn"t be "t all surprised if dat ar gen"lman"s crittur should gib a fling, by and by, when he comes to be a gettin" up. You know, Andy, critturs will do such things;" and therewith Sam poked Andy in the side, in a highly suggestive manner.
"High!" said Andy, with an air of instant appreciation.
"Yes, you see, Andy, Missis wants to make time,--dat ar"s clar to der most or"nary "bserver. I jis make a little for her. Now, you see, get all dese yer hosses loose, caperin" permiscus round dis yer lot and down to de wood dar, and I spec Mas"r won"t be off in a hurry."
Andy grinned.
"Yer see," said Sam, "yer see, Andy, if any such thing should happen as that Mas"r Haley"s horse should begin to act contrary, and cut up, you and I jist lets go of our"n to help him, and we"ll help him--oh yes!" And Sam and Andy laid their heads back on their shoulders, and broke into a low, immoderate laugh, snapping their fingers and flourishing their heels with exquisite delight.
At this instant, Haley appeared on the verandah. Somewhat mollified by certain cups of very good coffee, he came out smiling and talking, in tolerably restored humor. Sam and Andy, clawing for certain fragmentary palm-leaves, which they were in the habit of considering as hats, flew to the horseposts, to be ready to "help Mas"r."
Sam"s palm-leaf had been ingeniously disentangled from all pretensions to braid, as respects its brim; and the slivers starting apart, and standing upright, gave it a blazing air of freedom and defiance, quite equal to that of any Fejee chief; while the whole brim of Andy"s being departed bodily, he rapped the crown on his head with a dexterous thump, and looked about well pleased, as if to say, "Who says I haven"t got a hat?"
"Well, boys," said Haley, "look alive now; we must lose no time."
"Not a bit of him, Mas"r!" said Sam, putting Haley"s rein in his hand, and holding his stirrup, while Andy was untying the other two horses.
The instant Haley touched the saddle, the mettlesome creature bounded from the earth with a sudden spring, that threw his master sprawling, some feet off, on the soft, dry turf. Sam, with frantic e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, made a dive at the reins, but only succeeded in brushing the blazing palm-leaf afore-named into the horse"s eyes, which by no means tended to allay the confusion of his nerves. So, with great vehemence, he overturned Sam, and, giving two or three contemptuous snorts, flourished his heels vigorously in the air, and was soon prancing away towards the lower end of the lawn, followed by Bill and Jerry, whom Andy had not failed to let loose, according to contract, speeding them off with various direful e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns. And now ensued a miscellaneous scene of confusion. Sam and Andy ran and shouted,--dogs barked here and there,--and Mike, Mose, Mandy, f.a.n.n.y, and all the smaller specimens on the place, both male and female, raced, clapped hands, whooped, and shouted, with outrageous officiousness and untiring zeal.
Haley"s horse, which was a white one, and very fleet and spirited, appeared to enter into the spirit of the scene with great gusto; and having for his coursing ground a lawn of nearly half a mile in extent, gently sloping down on every side into indefinite woodland, he appeared to take infinite delight in seeing how near he could allow his pursuers to approach him, and then, when within a hand"s breadth, whisk off with a start and a snort, like a mischievous beast as he was and career far down into some alley of the wood-lot. Nothing was further from Sam"s mind than to have any one of the troop taken until such season as should seem to him most befitting,--and the exertions that he made were certainly most heroic. Like the sword of Coeur De Lion, which always blazed in the front and thickest of the battle, Sam"s palm-leaf was to be seen everywhere when there was the least danger that a horse could be caught; there he would bear down full tilt, shouting, "Now for it! cotch him! cotch him!" in a way that would set everything to indiscriminate rout in a moment.
Haley ran up and down, and cursed and swore and stamped miscellaneously. Mr. Shelby in vain tried to shout directions from the balcony, and Mrs. Shelby from her chamber window alternately laughed and wondered,--not without some inkling of what lay at the bottom of all this confusion.
At last, about twelve o"clock, Sam appeared triumphant, mounted on Jerry, with Haley"s horse by his side, reeking with sweat, but with flashing eyes and dilated nostrils, showing that the spirit of freedom had not yet entirely subsided.
"He"s cotched!" he exclaimed, triumphantly. "If "t hadn"t been for me, they might a bust themselves, all on "em; but I cotched him!"
"You!" growled Haley, in no amiable mood. "If it hadn"t been for you, this never would have happened."
"Lord bless us, Mas"r," said Sam, in a tone of the deepest concern, "and me that has been racin" and chasin" till the sweat jest pours off me!"
"Well, well!" said Haley, "you"ve lost me near three hours, with your cursed nonsense. Now let"s be off, and have no more fooling."
"Why, Mas"r," said Sam, in a deprecating tone, "I believe you mean to kill us all clar, horses and all. Here we are all just ready to drop down, and the critters all in a reek of sweat. Why, Mas"r won"t think of startin" on now till arter dinner. Mas"rs" hoss wants rubben down; see how he splashed hisself; and Jerry limps too; don"t think Missis would be willin" to have us start dis yer way, no how. Lord bless you, Mas"r, we can ketch up, if we do stop. Lizy never was no great of a walker."
Mrs. Shelby, who, greatly to her amus.e.m.e.nt, had overheard this conversation from the verandah, now resolved to do her part. She came forward, and, courteously expressing her concern for Haley"s accident, pressed him to stay to dinner, saying that the cook should bring it on the table immediately.
Thus, all things considered, Haley, with rather an equivocal grace, proceeded to the parlor, while Sam, rolling his eyes after him with unutterable meaning, proceeded gravely with the horses to the stable-yard.
"Did yer see him, Andy? did yer see him?" said Sam, when he had got fairly beyond the shelter of the barn, and fastened the horse to a post. "O, Lor, if it warn"t as good as a meetin", now, to see him a dancin" and kickin" and swarin" at us. Didn"t I hear him? Swar away, ole fellow (says I to myself ); will yer have yer hoss now, or wait till you cotch him? (says I). Lor, Andy, I think I can see him now." And Sam and Andy leaned up against the barn and laughed to their hearts" content.
"Yer oughter seen how mad he looked, when I brought the hoss up. Lord, he"d a killed me, if he durs" to; and there I was a standin" as innercent and as humble."
"Lor, I seed you," said Andy; "an"t you an old hoss, Sam?"
"Rather specks I am," said Sam; "did yer see Missis up stars at the winder? I seed her laughin"."
"I"m sure, I was racin" so, I didn"t see nothing," said Andy.
"Well, yer see," said Sam, proceeding gravely to wash down Haley"s pony, "I "se "quired what yer may call a habit o" bobservation, Andy. It"s a very "portant habit, Andy; and I "commend yer to be cultivatin" it, now yer young. Hist up that hind foot, Andy. Yer see, Andy, it"s bobservation makes all de difference in n.i.g.g.e.rs. Didn"t I see which way the wind blew dis yer mornin"? Didn"t I see what Missis wanted, though she never let on? Dat ar"s bobservation, Andy. I "spects it"s what you may call a faculty. Faculties is different in different peoples, but cultivation of "em goes a great way."
"I guess if I hadn"t helped your bobservation dis mornin", yer wouldn"t have seen your way so smart," said Andy.
"Andy," said Sam, "you"s a promisin" child, der an"t no manner o" doubt. I thinks lots of yer, Andy; and I don"t feel no ways ashamed to take idees from you. We oughtenter overlook n.o.body, Andy, cause the smartest on us gets tripped up sometimes. And so, Andy, let"s go up to the house now. I"ll be boun" Missis"ll give us an uncommon good bite, dis yer time."
CHAPTER VII.
The Mother"s Struggle.
It is impossible to conceive of a human creature more wholly desolate and forlorn than Eliza, when she turned her footsteps from Uncle Tom"s cabin.
Her husband"s suffering and dangers, and the danger of her child, all blended in her mind, with a confused and stunning sense of the risk she was running, in leaving the only home she had ever known, and cutting loose from the protection of a friend whom she loved and revered. Then there was the parting from every familiar object,--the place where she had grown up, the trees under which she had played, the groves where she had walked many an evening in happier days, by the side of her young husband,--everything, as it lay in the clear, frosty starlight, seemed to speak reproachfully to her, and ask her whither could she go from a home like that?
But stronger than all was maternal love, wrought into a paroxysm of frenzy by the near approach of a fearful danger. Her boy was old enough to have walked by her side, and, in an indifferent case, she would only have led him by the hand; but now the bare thought of putting him out of her arms made her shudder, and she strained him to her bosom with a convulsive grasp, as she went rapidly forward.
The frosty ground creaked beneath her feet, and she trembled at the sound; every quaking leaf and fluttering shadow sent the blood backward to her heart, and quickened her footsteps. She wondered within herself at the strength that seemed to be come upon her; for she felt the weight of her boy as if it had been a feather, and every flutter of fear seemed to increase the supernatural power that bore her on, while from her pale lips burst forth, in frequent e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, the prayer to a Friend above--"Lord, help! Lord, save me!"
If it were your Harry, mother, or your Willie, that were going to be torn from you by a brutal trader, tomorrow morning,--if you had seen the man, and heard that the papers were signed and delivered, and you had only from twelve o"clock till morning to make good your escape,--how fast could you walk? How many miles could you make in those few brief hours, with the darling at your bosom,--the little sleepy head on your shoulder,--the small, soft arms trustingly holding on to your neck?
For the child slept. At first, the novelty and alarm kept him waking; but his mother so hurriedly repressed every breath or sound, and so a.s.sured him that if he were only still she would certainly save him, that he clung quietly round her neck, only asking, as he found himself sinking to sleep, "Mother, I don"t need to keep awake, do I?"
"No, my darling; sleep, if you want to."
"But, mother, if I do get asleep, you won"t let him get me?"
"No! so may G.o.d help me!" said his mother, with a paler cheek, and a brighter light in her large dark eyes.
"You"re sure, an"t you, mother?"
"Yes, sure!" said the mother, in a voice that startled herself; for it seemed to her to come from a spirit within, that was no part of her; and the boy dropped his little weary head on her shoulder, and was soon asleep. How the touch of those warm arms, the gentle breathings that came in her neck, seemed to add fire and spirit to her movements! It seemed to her as if strength poured into her in electric streams, from every gentle touch and movement of the sleeping, confiding child. Sublime is the dominion of the mind over the body, that, for a time, can make flesh and nerve impregnable, and string the sinews like steel, so that the weak become so mighty.
The boundaries of the farm, the grove, the wood-lot, pa.s.sed by her dizzily, as she walked on; and still she went, leaving one familiar object after another, slacking not, pausing not, till reddening daylight found her many a long mile from all traces of any familiar objects upon the open highway.
She had often been, with her mistress, to visit some connections, in the little village of T----, not far from the Ohio river, and knew the road well. To go thither, to escape across the Ohio river, were the first hurried outlines of her plan of escape; beyond that, she could only hope in G.o.d.
When horses and vehicles began to move along the highway, with that alert perception peculiar to a state of excitement, and which seems to be a sort of inspiration, she became aware that her headlong pace and distracted air might bring on her remark and suspicion. She therefore put the boy on the ground, and, adjusting her dress and bonnet, she walked on at as rapid a pace as she thought consistent with the preservation of appearances. In her little bundle she had provided a store of cakes and apples, which she used as expedients for quickening the speed of the child, rolling the apple some yards before them, when the boy would run with all his might after it; and this ruse, often repeated, carried them over many a half-mile.
After a while, they came to a thick patch of woodland, through which murmured a clear brook. As the child complained of hunger and thirst, she climbed over the fence with him; and, sitting down behind a large rock which concealed them from the road, she gave him a breakfast out of her little package. The boy wondered and grieved that she could not eat; and when, putting his arms round her neck, he tried to wedge some of his cake into her mouth, it seemed to her that the rising in her throat would choke her.
"No, no, Harry darling! mother can"t eat till you are safe! We must go on--on--till we come to the river!" And she hurried again into the road, and again constrained herself to walk regularly and composedly forward.
She was many miles past any neighborhood where she was personally known. If she should chance to meet any who knew her, she reflected that the well-known kindness of the family would be of itself a blind to suspicion, as making it an unlikely supposition that she could be a fugitive. As she was also so white as not to be known as of colored lineage, without a critical survey, and her child was white also, it was much easier for her to pa.s.s on unsuspected.
On this presumption, she stopped at noon at a neat farmhouse, to rest herself, and buy some dinner for her child and self; for, as the danger decreased with the distance, the supernatural tension of the nervous system lessened, and she found herself both weary and hungry.
The good woman, kindly and gossipping, seemed rather pleased than otherwise with having somebody come in to talk with; and accepted, without examination, Eliza"s statement, that she "was going on a little piece, to spend a week with her friends,"--all which she hoped in her heart might prove strictly true.
An hour before sunset, she entered the village of T----, by the Ohio river, weary and foot-sore, but still strong in heart. Her first glance was at the river, which lay, like Jordan, between her and the Canaan of liberty on the other side.
It was now early spring, and the river was swollen and turbulent; great cakes of floating ice were swinging heavily to and fro in the turbid waters. Owing to the peculiar form of the sh.o.r.e on the Kentucky side, the land bending far out into the water, the ice had been lodged and detained in great quant.i.ties, and the narrow channel which swept round the bend was full of ice, piled one cake over another, thus forming a temporary barrier to the descending ice, which lodged, and formed a great, undulating raft, filling up the whole river, and extending almost to the Kentucky sh.o.r.e.
Eliza stood, for a moment, contemplating this unfavorable aspect of things, which she saw at once must prevent the usual ferry-boat from running, and then turned into a small public house on the bank, to make a few inquiries.
The hostess, who was busy in various fizzing and stewing operations over the fire, preparatory to the evening meal, stopped, with a fork in her hand, as Eliza"s sweet and plaintive voice arrested her.
"What is it?" she said.
"Isn"t there any ferry or boat, that takes people over to B----, now?" she said.
"No, indeed!" said the woman; "the boats has stopped running."
Eliza"s look of dismay and disappointment struck the woman, and she said, inquiringly, "May be you"re wanting to get over?--anybody sick? Ye seem mighty anxious?"
"I"ve got a child that"s very dangerous," said Eliza. "I never heard of it till last night, and I"ve walked quite a piece today, in hopes to get to the ferry."
"Well, now, that"s onlucky," said the woman, whose motherly sympathies were much aroused; "I"m re"lly consarned for ye. Solomon!" she called, from the window, towards a small back building. A man, in leather ap.r.o.n and very dirty hands, appeared at the door.
"I say, Sol," said the woman, "is that ar man going to tote them bar"ls over tonight?"
"He said he should try, if "t was any way prudent," said the man.
"There"s a man a piece down here, that"s going over with some truck this evening, if he durs" to; he"ll be in here to supper tonight, so you"d better set down and wait. That"s a sweet little fellow," added the woman, offering him a cake.
But the child, wholly exhausted, cried with weariness.
"Poor fellow! he isn"t used to walking, and I"ve hurried him on so," said Eliza.
"Well, take him into this room," said the woman, opening into a small bed-room, where stood a comfortable bed. Eliza laid the weary boy upon it, and held his hands in hers till he was fast asleep. For her there was no rest. As a fire in her bones, the thought of the pursuer urged her on; and she gazed with longing eyes on the sullen, surging waters that lay between her and liberty.
Here we must take our leave of her for the present, to follow the course of her pursuers.
Though Mrs. Shelby had promised that the dinner should be hurried on table, yet it was soon seen, as the thing has often been seen before, that it required more than one to make a bargain. So, although the order was fairly given out in Haley"s hearing, and carried to Aunt Chloe by at least half a dozen juvenile messengers, that dignitary only gave certain very gruff snorts, and tosses of her head, and went on with every operation in an unusually leisurely and circ.u.mstantial manner.
For some singular reason, an impression seemed to reign among the servants generally that Missis would not be particularly disobliged by delay; and it was wonderful what a number of counter accidents occurred constantly, to r.e.t.a.r.d the course of things. One luckless wight contrived to upset the gravy; and then gravy had to be got up de novo, with due care and formality, Aunt Chloe watching and stirring with dogged precision, answering shortly, to all suggestions of haste, that she "warn"t a going to have raw gravy on the table, to help n.o.body"s catchings." One tumbled down with the water, and had to go to the spring for more; and another precipitated the b.u.t.ter into the path of events; and there was from time to time giggling news brought into the kitchen that "Mas"r Haley was mighty oneasy, and that he couldn"t sit in his cheer no ways, but was a walkin" and stalkin" to the winders and through the porch."
"Sarves him right!" said Aunt Chloe, indignantly. "He"ll get wus nor oneasy, one of these days, if he don"t mend his ways. His master"ll be sending for him, and then see how he"ll look!"
"He"ll go to torment, and no mistake," said little Jake.
"He desarves it!" said Aunt Chloe, grimly; "he"s broke a many, many, many hearts,--I tell ye all!" she said, stopping, with a fork uplifted in her hands; "it"s like what Mas"r George reads in Ravelations,--souls a callin" under the altar! and a callin" on the Lord for vengeance on sich!--and by and by the Lord he"ll hear "em--so he will!"
Aunt Chloe, who was much revered in the kitchen, was listened to with open mouth; and, the dinner being now fairly sent in, the whole kitchen was at leisure to gossip with her, and to listen to her remarks.
"Sich"ll be burnt up forever, and no mistake; won"t ther?" said Andy.
"I"d be glad to see it, I"ll be boun"," said little Jake.
"Chil"en!" said a voice, that made them all start. It was Uncle Tom, who had come in, and stood listening to the conversation at the door.
"Chil"en!" he said, "I"m afeard you don"t know what ye"re sayin". Forever is a dre"ful word, chil"en; it"s awful to think on "t. You oughtenter wish that ar to any human crittur."
"We wouldn"t to anybody but the soul-drivers," said Andy; "n.o.body can help wishing it to them, they "s so awful wicked."
"Don"t natur herself kinder cry out on "em?" said Aunt Chloe. "Don"t dey tear der suckin" baby right off his mother"s breast, and sell him, and der little children as is crying and holding on by her clothes,--don"t dey pull "em off and sells "em? Don"t dey tear wife and husband apart?" said Aunt Chloe, beginning to cry, "when it"s jest takin" the very life on "em?--and all the while does they feel one bit, don"t dey drink and smoke, and take it oncommon easy? Lor, if the devil don"t get them, what"s he good for?" And Aunt Chloe covered her face with her checked ap.r.o.n, and began to sob in good earnest.
"Pray for them that "spitefully use you, the good book says," says Tom.
"Pray for "em!" said Aunt Chloe; "Lor, it"s too tough! I can"t pray for "em."
"It"s natur, Chloe, and natur "s strong," said Tom, "but the Lord"s grace is stronger; besides, you oughter think what an awful state a poor crittur"s soul "s in that"ll do them ar things,--you oughter thank G.o.d that you an"t like him, Chloe. I"m sure I"d rather be sold, ten thousand times over, than to have all that ar poor crittur"s got to answer for."