“Joe!” was the authoritative voice from without.
“Sah!”
“Take my horse to the stable!”
“Yes, sah!” responded the old man, sitting down his bowl of mush and milk on the hearth in the corner of the jam. “Do’n any on yeh toch dat, yeh heah?”
“We ain gwine to, Daddy Joe,” replied the young people.
“Huccum de young folks, gwine eat yo’ mush and milk? Sho, ole man, g’long whah yeh gwine, ad’ let young folk ’lone!” retorted Mammy Judy.
On returning from the stable, in his hurry the old man took up the bowl of a young man who sat it on his stool for the moment.
“Yoheh, Daddy Joe, dat my mush!” said the young man.
“Huccum dis yone?” replied the old man.
“Wy, ah put it dah; yeh put yone in de chimbly connoh.”
“Ah! Dat eh did!” exclaimed he, taking up the bowl eating heartily. “Wat dat yeh all been doin’ heah? Some on yeh young folks been prankin’ long wid dis mush an’ milk!” continued the old man, champing and chewing in a manner which indicated something more solid than mush and milk.
“Deed we did’n, Daddy Joe; did’n do nothin’ to yo’ mush an’ milk, so we did’n!” replied Ailcey, whose word was always sufficient with the old people.
“Hi, what dis in heah! Sumpen mighty crisp!” said Daddy Joe, still eating heartily and now and again blowing something from his mouth like coarse meal husks. “Sumpen heah mighty crisp, ah tells yeh! Ole umin, light dat pine knot dah; so dahk yeh cah’n see to talk. Git light dah quick ole umin! Sumpen heah mighty crisp in dis mush an’ milk!–Mighty crisp!”
“Good Laud! see dah now! Ah tole yeh so!” exclaimed Mammy Judy when, on producing a light, the bowl was found to be partially filled with large black house roaches.
“Reckon Daddy Joe do’n tank’im fah dat!” said little Tony, referring to the blessing of the old man; amidst an outburst of tittering and snickering among the young people.
Daddy Joe lost his supper, when the slaves retired for the evening.
CHAPTER 13
Perplexity
Early on Monday morning Colonel Franks arose to start for Woodville and Jackson in search of the fugitive.
“My dear, is Ailcey up? Please call Tony,” said Mrs. Franks, the boy soon appearing before his mistress. “Tony, call Ailcey,” continued she, “your master is up and going to the country.”
“Missus Ailcey ain’ dah!” replied the boy, returning in haste from the nursery.
“Certainly she is; did you go into the nursery?”
“Yes, um!”
“Are the children there?”
“Yes, um, boph on ’em.”
“Then she can’t be far–she’ll be in presently.”
“Missus, she ain’ come yit,” repeated the boy after a short absence.
“Did you look in the nursery again?”
“Yes, um!”
“Are the children still in bed?”
“Yes, um, boph sleep, only maus George awake.”
“You mean one asleep and the other awake!” said Mrs. Franks, smiling.
“Yes um boph wake!” replied the boy.
“Didn’t you tell me, Tony, that your master George only was awake?” asked the mistress.
“Miss Matha sleep fus, den she wake up and talk to maus George,” explained the boy, his master laughing, declared that a Negro’s skull was too thick to comprehend anything.
“Don’t mistake yourself, Colonel!” replied Mrs. Franks. “That boy is anything but a blockhead, mind that!”
“My dear, can’t you see something about that girl?” said the Colonel.
“Run quickly, Tony, and see if Ailcey is in the hut,” bade Mrs. Franks.
“Dear me,” continued she, “since the missing of little Joe, she’s all gossip, and we needn’t expect much of her until the thing has died away.”
“She’ll not gossip after today, my dear!” replied the Colonel decisively, “as I’m determined to put her in my pocket in time, before she is decoyed away by that ungrateful wretch, who is doubtless ready for anything, however vile, for revenge.”
Ailcey was a handsome black girl, graceful and intelligent, but having been raised on the place, had not the opportunity of a house maid for refinement. The Colonel, having had a favorable opinion of her as a servant, frequently requested that she be taken from the field, long before it had been done. This had not the most favorable impression upon the mind of his lady, who since the morning of the interview, the day before, had completely turned against the girl.
Mrs. Franks was an amiable lady and lenient mistress, but did a slave offend, she might be expected to act as a mistress; and still more, she was a woman; but concerning Ailcey she was mistaken, as a better and more pure-hearted female slave there was not to be found; and as true to her mistress and her honor, as was Maggie herself.
“Missus, she ain’t dare nudder! aun’ Judy ain seed ’er from las’ night!” said the boy who came running up the stairs.
“Then call Charles immediately!” ordered she; when away went he and shortly came Charles.
“Servant, mist’ess!” saluted Charles, as he entered her presence.
“Charles, do you know anything of Ailcey?” enquired she.
“No mist’ess I don’t.”
“When did you see her last?”
“Last night, ma’m.”
“Was she in company with anyone?”
“Yes ma’m, Potter’s Rachel.”
“What time in the evening was it, Charles?”
“After seven o’clock, ma’m.”
“O, she was home after that and went to bed in the nursery, where she has been sleeping for several nights.”
“My dear, this thing must be probed to the bottom at once! things are taking such a strange course, that we don’t know whom to trust. I’ll be hanged if I understand it!” The carriage being ordered, they went directly down to ’squire Potter’s.
“Good morning Mrs. Potter!–you will pardon us for the intrusion at so early an hour, but as the errand may concern us all, I’ll not stop to be ceremonious–do I find the ’squire in?”
The answer being in the affirmative, a servant being in attendance, the old gentleman soon made his appearance.
“Good morning, Colonel and Madam Franks!” saluted he.
“Good morning, ’squire! I shan’t be ceremonious, and to give you a history of my errand, and to make a short story of a long one, we’ll ‘make a lump job of it,’ to use a homely phrase.”
“I know the ’squire will be interested!” added Mrs. Franks.
“No doubt of it at all, ma’m!” replied Mrs. Potter, who seemed to anticipate them.
“It is this,” resumed the Colonel. “On Friday I gave my boy Henry verbal permission to go to the country, when he pretended to leave. On Saturday evening during the Negro-gathering at the old quarters, my little Negro boy Joe was stolen away, and on last evening, our Negro girl Ailcey the nurse, cleared out, and it seems was last seen in company with your Negro girl Rachel.”
“Titus, call Rachel there! No doubt but white men are at the bottom of it,” said Potter.
“Missus, heah I is!” drawled the girl awkwardly, with a curtsy.
“Speak to your master there; he wants you,” ordered Mrs. Potter.
“Mausta!” saluted the girl.
“Rachel, my girl, I want you to tell me, were you with Colonel Franks’ black girl Ailcey on last evening?”
“Yes seh, I wah.”
“Where, Rachel?” continued the master.
“Heah seh, at ouah house.”
“Where did you go to?”
“We go down to docteh Denny.”
“What for–what took you down to Dr. Denny’s, Rachel?”
“Went ’long wid Ailcey.”
“What did Ailcey go there for–do you know?”
“Went dah to see Craig’ Polly.”
“Craig’s Polly, which of Mr. Craig’
s Negro girls is that?”
“Dat un w’ot mos’ white.”
“Well, was Polly there?”
“She waun dah w’en we go, but she soon come.”
“Why did you go to Dr. Denny’s to meet Polly?”
“Ailcey say Polly go’n to meet uh dah.”
“Well, did they leave there when you did?”
“Yes, seh.”
“Where did you go to then?”
“I come home, seh.”
“Where did they go?”
“Da say da go’n down undah da Hill.”
“Who else was with them besides you?”
“No un, seh.”
“Was there no man with them, when they left for under the Hill?”
“No, seh.”
“Did you see no man about at all, Rachel?”
“No, seh.”
“Now don’t be afraid to tell: was there no white person at all spoke to you when together last night?”
“None but some white gent’men come up an’ want walk wid us, same like da al’as do we black girls w’en we go out.”
“Did the girls seem to be acquainted and glad to see them?”
“No seh, the girls run, and da gent’men cus——”
“Never mind that, Rachel, you can go now,” concluded her master.
“Well, ’squire, hanged if this thing mus’nt be stopped! Four slaves in less than that many days gone from under our very eyes, and we unable to detect them! It’s insufferable, and I believe whites to be at the head of it! I have my suspicions on a party who stands high in the community, and——”
“Now Colonel, if you please!” interrupted Mrs. Franks.
“Well, I suppose we’ll have for the present to pass that by,” replied he.
“Indeed, something really should be done!” said the ’squire.
“Yes, and that quickly, if we would keep our Negroes to prevent us from starving.”
“I think the thing should at once be seen into; what say you, Colonel?”
“As I have several miles to ride this morning,” said Franks, looking at his watch, it now being past nine o’clock, “I must leave so as to be back in the evening. Any steps that may be taken before my return, you have the free use of my name. Good morning!”
A few minutes and the Colonel was at his own door, astride of a horse, and on his way to Woodville.
CHAPTER 14
Gad and Gossip
This day the hut of Mammy Judy seemed to be the licensed resort for all the slaves of the town; and even many whites were seen occasionally to drop in and out, as they passed along. Everyone knew the residence of Colonel Franks, and many of the dusky inhabitants of the place were solely indebted to the purse-proud occupants of the “great house” for their introduction to that part of Mississippi.
For years he and Major Armsted were the only reliable traders upon whom could be depended for a choice gang of field Negroes and other marketable people. And not only this section, but the whole Mississippi Valley to some extent was to them indebted. First as young men the agents of Woolford, in maturer age their names became as household words and known as the great proprietary Mississippi or Georgia Negro-traders.
Domestic service seemed for the time suspended, and little required at home to do, as the day was spent as a kind of gala-day, in going about from place to place talking of everything.
Among the foremost of these was Mammy Judy, for although she partially did, and was expected to stay and be at home today, and act as an oracle, yet she merely stole a little time to run over to Mrs. Van Winter’s, step in at ’squire Potter’s to speak a word to Milly, drop by Dr. Denny’s, and just poke in her head at Craig’s a moment.
“Ah been tellin’ on ’em so! All along ah been tellin’ on ’em, but da uden bleve me!” soliloquized Mammy Judy, when the first dash of news through the boy Tony reached her, that Ailcey had gone and taken with her some of ’squire Potter’s people, several of Dr. Denny’s, a gang of Craig’s, and half of Van Winter’s. “Dat jis wat ah been tellin’ on ’em all along, but da uden bleve me!” concluded she.
“Yeah heah de news!” exclaimed Potter’s Minney to Van Winter’s Biddy.
“I heah dat Ailcey gone!” replied Biddy.
“Dat all; no mo?” enquired the girl with a high turban of Madras on her head.
“I heahn little Joe go too!”
“Didn yeh heah dot Denny’ Sookey, an’ Craig’ Polly, took a whole heap uh Potteh’ people an’ clah’d out wid two po’ white mens, an’ dat da all seen comin’ out Van Winteh de old ablish’neh, soon in de monin’ fo’ day?”
“No!” replied the good-natured, simple-hearted Biddy, “I did’n!”
“Yes, sho’s yeh baun dat true, case uhly dis monin’ cunel Frank’ an’ lady come see mausta–and yeh know ’e squiah an’ make de law–an’ mauster ghin ’em papehs, an’ da go arter de Judge to put heh in jail!”
“Take who to jail?”
“Wy, dat ole ablish’neh, Miss Van Winteh! Ah wish da all dead, dese ole ablish’nehs, case da steal us an’ sell us down souph to haud maustas, w’en we got good places. Any how she go’n to jail, an’ I’s glad!”
Looking seriously at her, Biddy gave a long sigh, saying nothing to commit herself, but going home, communicated directly to her mistress that which she heard, as Mrs. Van Winter was by all regarded as a friend to the Negro race, and at that time the subject of strong suspicion among the slaveholders of the neighborhood.
Eager to gad and gossip, from place to place the girl Minney passed about relating the same to each and all with whom she chanced to converse, they imparting to others the same strange story, until reaching the ears of intelligent whites who had heard no other version, it spread through the city as a statement of fact.
Learning as many did by sending to the house, that the Colonel that day had gone in search of his slaves, the statement was confirmed as having come from Mrs. Franks, who was known to be a firm friend of Mrs. Van Winter.
“Upon my word!” said Captain Grason on meeting Sheriff Hughes. “Sheriff, things are coming to a pretty pass!”
“What’s that, Captain?” enquired the Sheriff.
“Have you not heard the news yet, concerning the Negroes?”
“Why, no! I’ve been away to Vicksburg the last ten days, and just getting back.”
“O, Heavens! we’re no longer safe in our own houses. Why, sir, we’re about being overwhelmed by an infamous class of persons who live in our midst, and eat at our tables!”
“You surprise me, Captain! what’s the matter?”
“Sir, it would take a week to relate the particulars, but our slaves are running off by wholesale. On Sunday night a parcel of Colonel Franks’ Negroes left, a lot of Dr. Denny’s, some of ’squire Potter’s, and a gang of Craig’s, aided by white men, whom together with the Negroes were seen before day in the morning coming out of the widow Van Winters, who was afterwards arrested, and since taken before the judge on a writ of habeas corpus, but the circumstances against her being so strong she was remanded for trial, which so far strengthens the accusation. I know not where this thing will end!”
“Surprising indeed, sir!” replied Hughes. “I had not heard of it before, but shall immediately repair to her house, and learn all the facts in the case. I am well acquainted with Mrs. Van Winter–in fact she is a relation of my wife–and must hasten. Good day, sir!”
On ringing the bell, a quick step brought a person to the door, when on being opened, the Sheriff found himself in the warm embraces of the kind-hearted and affectionate Mrs. Van Winter herself.
After the usual civilities, she was the first to introduce the subject, informing him of their loss by their mutual friends Colonel Franks and lady, with others, and no surprise was greater than that on hearing the story current concerning herself.
Mammy Judy was as busy as she well could be, in hearing and telling news among the slaves who continually came and went through the day. So overwhelmed with e
xcitement was she, that she had little else to say in making a period, then “All a long ah been tellin’ on yeh so, but yeh uden bleve me!”
Among the many who thronged the hut was Potter’s Milly. She in person is black, stout and fat, bearing a striking resemblance to the matronly old occupant Mammy Judy. For two hours or more letting a number come in, gossip, and pass out, only to be immediately succeeded by another; who like the old country woman who for the first time in visiting London all day stood upon the sidewalk of the principal thoroughfare waiting till the crowd of people and cavalcade of vehicles passed, before she made the attempt to cross the street; she sat waiting till a moment would occur by which in private to impart a secret to her friend alone. That moment did at last arrive.
“Judy!” said the old woman in a whisper. “Ah been waitin’ all day long to see yeh fah sumpen’ ticlar!”
“W’at dat, Milly?” whispered Mammy Judy scarcely above her breath.
“I’s gwine too!” and she hurried away to prepare supper for the white folks, before they missed her, though she had been absent full two hours and a half, another thirty minutes being required for the fat old woman to reach the house.
“Heah dat now!” whispered Mammy Judy. “Ah tole yeh so!”
“Well, my dear, not a word of that graceless dog, the little Negro, nor that girl,” said Franks who had just returned from the country, “but I am fully compensated for the disappointment, on learning of the arrest and imprisonment of that–!”
“Who, Colonel?” interrupted his wife.
“I hope after this you’ll be willing to set some estimation on my judgment–I mean your friend Mrs. Van Winter the abolitionist!”
“I beg your pardon, Colonel, as nothing is farther from the truth! From whom did you receive that intelligence?”
“I met Captain Grason on his way to Woodville, who informed me that it was current in town, and you had corroborated the statement. Did you see him?”
“Nothing of the kind, sir, and it has not been more than half an hour since Mrs. Van Winter left here, who heartily sympathizes with us, though she has her strange notions that black people have as much right to freedom as white.”
Blake or The Huts of America Page 9
