Part 6 (1/2)

Dey'll come no mo' dis side de rlbber Jordan, O, dey'll come no mo' dis side de golden shoah!

Foh de Chilian's growed so big dat deys forgot me, Kase I'se ole an' cannot wok foh dem no mo'!

Ole happy, etc.

CHAPTER VIII.--OUT OF BONDAGE.

_”Look down. Say nothin'. Few words comprehends the whole.”_

The long, lank mountaineer stood leaning on his gun and looking listlessly at the collection of bundles, bags, children, dogs, guns, banjos, and other belongings of the Davenport negroes, as they waited about the wagons, now nearly ready to start for ”Was.h.i.+ngton and the free States”--that Mecca of the colored race. It is true that Lengthy Patterson disapproved of the entire proceeding, notwithstanding his profound respect for, and blind admiration of Parson Davenport, as he always called Griffith; but he had tramped many miles to witness the departure, which had been heralded far and wide. Lengthy's companion, known to his familiars as ”Whis” Biggs, slowly stroked the voluminous hirsute adornment to which he was indebted for his name, ”Whiskers”

being the original of the abbreviation which was now his sole designation--Whis stroked his beard and abstractedly kicked a stray dog, which ran, howling, under the nearest wagon.

”Hit do appear t' me that the Pahrson air a leetle teched in the haid.”

There was a long pause. The negroes looked, as they always did, at these mountaineers in contempt.

Lengthy dove into a capacious pocket and produced a large home-twisted hand of tobacco and pa.s.sed it in silence to his companion, who gnawed off a considerable section and in silence returned it to the owner.

”Let's set,” he remarked, and doubled himself down on a log. Lengthy took the seat beside him, and gathered his ever-present gun between his long legs and gazed into s.p.a.ce. Mr. Biggs stroked his beard and remained plunged in deep thought. That is to say, he was evidently under the impression that he was thinking, albeit skeptics had been known to point to the dearth of results in his conversation, and to intimate that nature had designed in him not so much a thinker as an able-bodied tack upon which to suspend a luxuriant growth of beard. He was known far and wide as ”Whis” Biggs; and, if there was within or without his anatomy anything more important, or half so much in evidence as was his tremendous achievement in facial adornment (if such an appendage may be called an adornment by those not belonging to a reverted type), no one had ever discovered the foot. What there was of him, of value, appeared to have run to hair. The rest of him was occupied in proudly displaying the fact. He stroked his beard and looked wise, or he stroked his beard and laughed, or he stroked his beard and a.s.sumed a solemn air, as occasion, in his judgment, appeared to require; but the occasion always required him to stroke his beard, no matter what else might happen to man or to beast.

But at last the wagons pulled out. Amidst shouts and ”Whoas!” and ”Gees!” and ”G'langs!” Amidst tears and laughter and admonitions from those who went, and those who were left behind, the strange and unaccustomed procession took its course toward the setting sun. The family drove, in the old Davenport barouche, far enough behind to avoid the dust of the wagons. The long journey was begun for master and for freedmen. Each was launched on an unknown sea. Each was filled with apprehension and with hope. Old friends and relatives had gathered to witness the departure, some to blame, some to deprecate, and all to deplore the final leave-taking. Comments on the vanis.h.i.+ng procession were varied and numerous. The two mountaineers listened in silence, the one stroking his beard, the other holding his gun. Some thought the preacher undoubtedly insane, some thought him merely a dangerous fanatic, some said he was only a plain, unvarnished fool; some insisted that since he had gone counter to public opinion and the law of the state, he was a criminal; while a semi-silent few sighed and wished for the courage and the ability to follow a like course. The first hours of the journey were uneventful. There was a gloom on all hearts, which insured silence. Each felt that he was looking for the last time upon the valley of their love. Jerry drove the family carriage. As they paused to lower the check-reins at the mill stream, Katherine bent suddenly forward and shaded her eyes with her hands. ”Griffith!

Griffith! there goes Pete back oyer the fields I I'm sure it is Pete.

No other negro has that walk--that lope. See! He looked back! He is running! I know it is Pete!”

Mr. Davenport sprang from the carriage and shouted to the fleeing man.

He placed his hands to the sides of his face and shouted again and again.

”Sh.e.l.l I run foh' 'im, Mos' Grif?” asked Jerry pa.s.sing the lines to his mistress. ”I lay I kin ketch 'im, 'n I'll fetch' im back, too, fo' he gits to de cross-roads!”

He grasped the carriage whip and prepared to start. The shouts had served to redouble Pete's.

”He was your negro, Katherine, shall I let him go?” Griffith said in a tired voice.

”Yes, yes, oh, Griffith, let him stay in Virginia if he wants to. We can't have him with us--why, why not let him stay here?”

Griffith sighed. His wife knew quite well why; but she was nervous and overwrought and feared resistance should Pete be brought to bay--might he not fight for his freedom to remain where he might _not_ be free!

The wagons had all stopped. One of the twins, with ashen face, came running back to report Pete's escape. ”Mos' Grif, Oh, Lordy, Mos' Grif!

Pete he's run off! Pete------”

It was plain to be seen that the negroes were restless and expectant.

The tone and atmosphere of uncertainty among them, the tearful eyes of some, and the sullen scowl of others quickly decided Mr. Davenport. It was no time for indecision. Prompt action alone would prevent a panic and a stampede. Katherine spoke a few hasty words to him as he leaned on the carriage-door. He sprang in. ”Go on!” he shouted. ”Go on! We can't all stop now. We must cross the ferry tonight!” Then as a precaution he said to the twin: ”Catch up and tell Judy that 'Squire Nelson will get Pete if he tries to stay here.”

'Squire Nelson, the terrible!' Squire Nelson! who had called before him a runaway boy and calmly shot him through the leg as an example to his fellows, and then sent him to the quarters to repent his rash act--and incidentally to act as a warning! 'Squire Nelson! Did the manumission papers give those who stayed behind to 'Squire Nelson? The negroes looked into each other's faces in silent fear, and drove rapidly on.

An hour later, as they were looking at the glorious sunset, and Griffith was struggling to be his old cheery self, Katherine said sadly: ”We are as much exiled as they, Griffith. We could never come back.” She choked up and then, steadying her voice, ”If you think it is G.o.d's will we must submit; but--but everything makes it so hard--so cruelly hard. I am so afraid. I--no one ever--every one loved you before, and now--now--did you see the faces, Griffith, when we left? Did you see 'Squire Nelson's face?” She shuddered.