"So "d I, a heap," said Jake. "Lor, shouldn"t we cotch it, Andy?"
Andy shrugged his shoulders, and gave an acquiescent whistle.
"I"m glad Mas"r didn"t go off this morning, as he looked to," said Tom; "that ar hurt me more than sellin", it did. Mebbe it might have been natural for him, but "t would have come desp"t hard on me, as has known him from a baby; but I"ve seen Mas"r, and I begin ter feel sort o" reconciled to the Lord"s will now. Mas"r couldn"t help hisself; he did right, but I"m feared things will be kinder goin" to rack, when I"m gone Mas"r can"t be spected to be a pryin" round everywhar, as I"ve done, a keepin" up all the ends. The boys all means well, but they "s powerful car"less. That ar troubles me."
The bell here rang, and Tom was summoned to the parlor.
"Tom," said his master, kindly, "I want you to notice that I give this gentleman bonds to forfeit a thousand dollars if you are not on the spot when he wants you; he"s going today to look after his other business, and you can have the day to yourself. Go anywhere you like, boy."
"Thank you, Mas"r," said Tom.
"And mind yourself," said the trader, "and don"t come it over your master with any o" yer n.i.g.g.e.r tricks; for I"ll take every cent out of him, if you an"t thar. If he"d hear to me, he wouldn"t trust any on ye--slippery as eels!"
"Mas"r," said Tom,--and he stood very straight,--"I was jist eight years old when ole Missis put you into my arms, and you wasn"t a year old. "Thar," says she, "Tom, that"s to be your young Mas"r; take good care on him," says she. And now I jist ask you, Mas"r, have I ever broke word to you, or gone contrary to you, "specially since I was a Christian?"
Mr. Shelby was fairly overcome, and the tears rose to his eyes.
"My good boy," said he, "the Lord knows you say but the truth; and if I was able to help it, all the world shouldn"t buy you."
"And sure as I am a Christian woman," said Mrs. Shelby, "you shall be redeemed as soon as I can any bring together means. Sir," she said to Haley, "take good account of who you sell him to, and let me know."
"Lor, yes, for that matter," said the trader, "I may bring him up in a year, not much the wuss for wear, and trade him back."
"I"ll trade with you then, and make it for your advantage," said Mrs. Shelby.
"Of course," said the trader, "all "s equal with me; li"ves trade "em up as down, so I does a good business. All I want is a livin", you know, ma"am; that"s all any on us wants, I, s"pose."
Mr. and Mrs. Shelby both felt annoyed and degraded by the familiar impudence of the trader, and yet both saw the absolute necessity of putting a constraint on their feelings. The more hopelessly sordid and insensible he appeared, the greater became Mrs. Shelby"s dread of his succeeding in recapturing Eliza and her child, and of course the greater her motive for detaining him by every female artifice. She therefore graciously smiled, a.s.sented, chatted familiarly, and did all she could to make time pa.s.s imperceptibly.
At two o"clock Sam and Andy brought the horses up to the posts, apparently greatly refreshed and invigorated by the scamper of the morning.
Sam was there new oiled from dinner, with an abundance of zealous and ready officiousness. As Haley approached, he was boasting, in flourishing style, to Andy, of the evident and eminent success of the operation, now that he had "farly come to it."
"Your master, I s"pose, don"t keep no dogs," said Haley, thoughtfully, as he prepared to mount.
"Heaps on "em," said Sam, triumphantly; "thar"s Bruno--he"s a roarer! and, besides that, "bout every n.i.g.g.e.r of us keeps a pup of some natur or uther."
"Poh!" said Haley,--and he said something else, too, with regard to the said dogs, at which Sam muttered, "I don"t see no use cussin" on "em, no way."
"But your master don"t keep no dogs (I pretty much know he don"t) for trackin" out n.i.g.g.e.rs."
Sam knew exactly what he meant, but he kept on a look of earnest and desperate simplicity.
"Our dogs all smells round considable sharp. I spect they"s the kind, though they han"t never had no practice. They "s far dogs, though, at most anything, if you"d get "em started. Here, Bruno," he called, whistling to the lumbering Newfoundland, who came pitching tumultuously toward them.
"You go hang!" said Haley, getting up. "Come, tumble up now."
Sam tumbled up accordingly, dexterously contriving to tickle Andy as he did so, which occasioned Andy to split out into a laugh, greatly to Haley"s indignation, who made a cut at him with his riding-whip.
"I "s "stonished at yer, Andy," said Sam, with awful gravity. "This yer"s a seris bisness, Andy. Yer mustn"t be a makin" game. This yer an"t no way to help Mas"r."
"I shall take the straight road to the river," said Haley, decidedly, after they had come to the boundaries of the estate. "I know the way of all of "em,--they makes tracks for the underground."
"Sartin," said Sam, "dat"s de idee. Mas"r Haley hits de thing right in de middle. Now, der"s two roads to de river,--de dirt road and der pike,--which Mas"r mean to take?"
Andy looked up innocently at Sam, surprised at hearing this new geographical fact, but instantly confirmed what he said, by a vehement reiteration.
"Cause," said Sam, "I"d rather be "clined to "magine that Lizy "d take de dirt road, bein" it"s the least travelled."
Haley, notwithstanding that he was a very old bird, and naturally inclined to be suspicious of chaff, was rather brought up by this view of the case.
"If yer warn"t both on yer such cussed liars, now!" he said, contemplatively as he pondered a moment.
The pensive, reflective tone in which this was spoken appeared to amuse Andy prodigiously, and he drew a little behind, and shook so as apparently to run a great risk of failing off his horse, while Sam"s face was immovably composed into the most doleful gravity.
"Course," said Sam, "Mas"r can do as he"d ruther, go de straight road, if Mas"r thinks best,--it"s all one to us. Now, when I study "pon it, I think de straight road de best, deridedly."
"She would naturally go a lonesome way," said Haley, thinking aloud, and not minding Sam"s remark.
"Dar an"t no sayin"," said Sam; "gals is pecular; they never does nothin" ye thinks they will; mose gen"lly the contrary. Gals is nat"lly made contrary; and so, if you thinks they"ve gone one road, it is sartin you"d better go t" other, and then you"ll be sure to find "em. Now, my private "pinion is, Lizy took der road; so I think we"d better take de straight one."
This profound generic view of the female s.e.x did not seem to dispose Haley particularly to the straight road, and he announced decidedly that he should go the other, and asked Sam when they should come to it.
"A little piece ahead," said Sam, giving a wink to Andy with the eye which was on Andy"s side of the head; and he added, gravely, "but I"ve studded on de matter, and I"m quite clar we ought not to go dat ar way. I nebber been over it no way. It"s despit lonesome, and we might lose our way,--whar we"d come to, de Lord only knows."
"Nevertheless," said Haley, "I shall go that way."
"Now I think on "t, I think I hearn "em tell that dat ar road was all fenced up and down by der creek, and thar, an"t it, Andy?"
Andy wasn"t certain; he"d only "hearn tell" about that road, but never been over it. In short, he was strictly noncommittal.
Haley, accustomed to strike the balance of probabilities between lies of greater or lesser magnitude, thought that it lay in favor of the dirt road aforesaid. The mention of the thing he thought he perceived was involuntary on Sam"s part at first, and his confused attempts to dissuade him he set down to a desperate lying on second thoughts, as being unwilling to implicate Liza.
When, therefore, Sam indicated the road, Haley plunged briskly into it, followed by Sam and Andy.
Now, the road, in fact, was an old one, that had formerly been a thoroughfare to the river, but abandoned for many years after the laying of the new pike. It was open for about an hour"s ride, and after that it was cut across by various farms and fences. Sam knew this fact perfectly well,--indeed, the road had been so long closed up, that Andy had never heard of it. He therefore rode along with an air of dutiful submission, only groaning and vociferating occasionally that "t was "desp"t rough, and bad for Jerry"s foot."
"Now, I jest give yer warning," said Haley, "I know yer; yer won"t get me to turn off this road, with all yer fussin"--so you shet up!"
"Mas"r will go his own way!" said Sam, with rueful submission, at the same time winking most Portentously to Andy, whose delight was now very near the explosive point.
Sam was in wonderful spirits,--professed to keep a very brisk lookout,--at one time exclaiming that he saw "a gal"s bonnet" on the top of some distant eminence, or calling to Andy "if that thar wasn"t "Lizy" down in the hollow;" always making these exclamations in some rough or craggy part of the road, where the sudden quickening of speed was a special inconvenience to all parties concerned, and thus keeping Haley in a state of constant commotion.
After riding about an hour in this way, the whole party made a precipitate and tumultuous descent into a barn-yard belonging to a large farming establishment. Not a soul was in sight, all the hands being employed in the fields; but, as the barn stood conspicuously and plainly square across the road, it was evident that their journey in that direction had reached a decided finale.
"Wan"t dat ar what I telled Mas"r?" said Sam, with an air of injured innocence. "How does strange gentleman spect to know more about a country dan de natives born and raised?"
"You rascal!" said Haley, "you knew all about this."
"Didn"t I tell yer I knowd, and yer wouldn"t believe me? I telled Mas"r "t was all shet up, and fenced up, and I didn"t spect we could get through,--Andy heard me."
It was all too true to be disputed, and the unlucky man had to pocket his wrath with the best grace he was able, and all three faced to the right about, and took up their line of march for the highway.
In consequence of all the various delays, it was about three-quarters of an hour after Eliza had laid her child to sleep in the village tavern that the party came riding into the same place. Eliza was standing by the window, looking out in another direction, when Sam"s quick eye caught a glimpse of her. Haley and Andy were two yards behind. At this crisis, Sam contrived to have his hat blown off, and uttered a loud and characteristic e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, which startled her at once; she drew suddenly back; the whole train swept by the window, round to the front door.
A thousand lives seemed to be concentrated in that one moment to Eliza. Her room opened by a side door to the river. She caught her child, and sprang down the steps towards it. The trader caught a full glimpse of her just as she was disappearing down the bank; and throwing himself from his horse, and calling loudly on Sam and Andy, he was after her like a hound after a deer. In that dizzy moment her feet to her scarce seemed to touch the ground, and a moment brought her to the water"s edge. Right on behind they came; and, nerved with strength such as G.o.d gives only to the desperate, with one wild cry and flying leap, she vaulted sheer over the turbid current by the sh.o.r.e, on to the raft of ice beyond. It was a desperate leap--impossible to anything but madness and despair; and Haley, Sam, and Andy, instinctively cried out, and lifted up their hands, as she did it.
The huge green fragment of ice on which she alighted pitched and creaked as her weight came on it, but she staid there not a moment. With wild cries and desperate energy she leaped to another and still another cake; stumbling--leaping--slipping--springing upwards again! Her shoes are gone--her stockings cut from her feet--while blood marked every step; but she saw nothing, felt nothing, till dimly, as in a dream, she saw the Ohio side, and a man helping her up the bank.
"Yer a brave gal, now, whoever ye ar!" said the man, with an oath.
Eliza recognized the voice and face for a man who owned a farm not far from her old home.
"O, Mr. Symmes!--save me--do save me--do hide me!" said Elia.
"Why, what"s this?" said the man. "Why, if "tan"t Shelby"s gal!"
"My child!--this boy!--he"d sold him! There is his Mas"r," said she, pointing to the Kentucky sh.o.r.e. "O, Mr. Symmes, you"ve got a little boy!"
"So I have," said the man, as he roughly, but kindly, drew her up the steep bank. "Besides, you"re a right brave gal. I like grit, wherever I see it."
When they had gained the top of the bank, the man paused.
"I"d be glad to do something for ye," said he; "but then there"s nowhar I could take ye. The best I can do is to tell ye to go thar," said he, pointing to a large white house which stood by itself, off the main street of the village. "Go thar; they"re kind folks. Thar"s no kind o" danger but they"ll help you,--they"re up to all that sort o" thing."
"The Lord bless you!" said Eliza, earnestly.
"No "casion, no "casion in the world," said the man. "What I"ve done"s of no "count."
"And, oh, surely, sir, you won"t tell any one!"
"Go to thunder, gal! What do you take a feller for? In course not," said the man. "Come, now, go along like a likely, sensible gal, as you are. You"ve arnt your liberty, and you shall have it, for all me."
The woman folded her child to her bosom, and walked firmly and swiftly away. The man stood and looked after her.
"Shelby, now, mebbe won"t think this yer the most neighborly thing in the world; but what"s a feller to do? If he catches one of my gals in the same fix, he"s welcome to pay back. Somehow I never could see no kind o" critter a strivin" and pantin", and trying to clar theirselves, with the dogs arter "em and go agin "em. Besides, I don"t see no kind of "casion for me to be hunter and catcher for other folks, neither."
So spoke this poor, heathenish Kentuckian, who had not been instructed in his const.i.tutional relations, and consequently was betrayed into acting in a sort of Christianized manner, which, if he had been better situated and more enlightened, he would not have been left to do.
Haley had stood a perfectly amazed spectator of the scene, till Eliza had disappeared up the bank, when he turned a blank, inquiring look on Sam and Andy.
"That ar was a tolable fair stroke of business," said Sam.
"The gal "s got seven devils in her, I believe!" said Haley. "How like a wildcat she jumped!"
"Wal, now," said Sam, scratching his head, "I hope Mas"r"ll "scuse us trying dat ar road. Don"t think I feel spry enough for dat ar, no way!" and Sam gave a hoa.r.s.e chuckle.
"You laugh!" said the trader, with a growl.
"Lord bless you, Mas"r, I couldn"t help it now," said Sam, giving way to the long pent-up delight of his soul. "She looked so curi"s, a leapin" and springin"--ice a crackin"--and only to hear her,--plump! ker chunk! ker splash! Spring! Lord! how she goes it!" and Sam and Andy laughed till the tears rolled down their cheeks.
"I"ll make ye laugh t" other side yer mouths!" said the trader, laying about their heads with his riding-whip.
Both ducked, and ran shouting up the bank, and were on their horses before he was up.
"Good-evening, Mas"r!" said Sam, with much gravity. "I berry much spect Missis be anxious "bout Jerry. Mas"r Haley won"t want us no longer. Missis wouldn"t hear of our ridin" the critters over Lizy"s bridge tonight;" and, with a facetious poke into Andy"s ribs, he started off, followed by the latter, at full speed,--their shouts of laughter coming faintly on the wind.
CHAPTER VIII.
Eliza"s Escape.
Eliza made her desperate retreat across the river just in the dusk of twilight. The gray mist of evening, rising slowly from the river, enveloped her as she disappeared up the bank, and the swollen current and floundering ma.s.ses of ice presented a hopeless barrier between her and her pursuer. Haley therefore slowly and discontentedly returned to the little tavern, to ponder further what was to be done. The woman opened to him the door of a little parlor, covered with a rag carpet, where stood a table with a very shining black oil-cloth, sundry lank, high-backed wood chairs, with some plaster images in resplendent colors on the mantel-shelf, above a very dimly-smoking grate; a long hard-wood settle extended its uneasy length by the chimney, and here Haley sat him down to meditate on the instability of human hopes and happiness in general.
"What did I want with the little cuss, now," he said to himself, "that I should have got myself treed like a c.o.o.n, as I am, this yer way?" and Haley relieved himself by repeating over a not very select litany of imprecations on himself, which, though there was the best possible reason to consider them as true, we shall, as a matter of taste, omit.
He was startled by the loud and dissonant voice of a man who was apparently dismounting at the door. He hurried to the window.
"By the land! if this yer an"t the nearest, now, to what I"ve heard folks call Providence," said Haley. "I do b"lieve that ar"s Tom Loker."
Haley hastened out. Standing by the bar, in the corner of the room, was a brawny, muscular man, full six feet in height, and broad in proportion. He was dressed in a coat of buffalo-skin, made with the hair outward, which gave him a s.h.a.ggy and fierce appearance, perfectly in keeping with the whole air of his physiognomy. In the head and face every organ and lineament expressive of brutal and unhesitating violence was in a state of the highest possible development. Indeed, could our readers fancy a bull-dog come unto man"s estate, and walking about in a hat and coat, they would have no unapt idea of the general style and effect of his physique. He was accompanied by a travelling companion, in many respects an exact contrast to himself. He was short and slender, lithe and catlike in his motions, and had a peering, mousing expression about his keen black eyes, with which every feature of his face seemed sharpened into sympathy; his thin, long nose, ran out as if it was eager to bore into the nature of things in general; his sleek, thin, black hair was stuck eagerly forward, and all his motions and evolutions expressed a dry, cautious acuteness. The great man poured out a big tumbler half full of raw spirits, and gulped it down without a word. The little man stood tiptoe, and putting his head first to one side and then the other, and snuffing considerately in the directions of the various bottles, ordered at last a mint julep, in a thin and quivering voice, and with an air of great circ.u.mspection. When poured out, he took it and looked at it with a sharp, complacent air, like a man who thinks he has done about the right thing, and hit the nail on the head, and proceeded to dispose of it in short and well-advised sips.
"Wal, now, who"d a thought this yer luck "ad come to me? Why, Loker, how are ye?" said Haley, coming forward, and extending his hand to the big man.
"The devil!" was the civil reply. "What brought you here, Haley?"
The mousing man, who bore the name of Marks, instantly stopped his sipping, and, poking his head forward, looked shrewdly on the new acquaintance, as a cat sometimes looks at a moving dry leaf, or some other possible object of pursuit.
"I say, Tom, this yer"s the luckiest thing in the world. I"m in a devil of a hobble, and you must help me out."
"Ugh? aw! like enough!" grunted his complacent acquaintance. "A body may be pretty sure of that, when you"re glad to see "em; something to be made off of "em. What"s the blow now?"
"You"ve got a friend here?" said Haley, looking doubtfully at Marks; "partner, perhaps?"
"Yes, I have. Here, Marks! here"s that ar feller that I was in with in Natchez."
"Shall be pleased with his acquaintance," said Marks, thrusting out a long, thin hand, like a raven"s claw. "Mr. Haley, I believe?"
"The same, sir," said Haley. "And now, gentlemen, seein" as we"ve met so happily, I think I"ll stand up to a small matter of a treat in this here parlor. So, now, old c.o.o.n," said he to the man at the bar, "get us hot water, and sugar, and cigars, and plenty of the real stuff and we"ll have a blow-out."
Behold, then, the candles lighted, the fire stimulated to the burning point in the grate, and our three worthies seated round a table, well spread with all the accessories to good fellowship enumerated before.