Eliza made her desperate retreat across the river just in the duskof twilight. The gray mist of evening, rising slowly from the river,enveloped her as she disappeared up the bank, and the swollen currentand floundering masses of ice presented a hopeless barrier between herand her pursuer. Haley therefore slowly and discontentedly returnedto the little tavern, to ponder further what was to be done. The womanopened 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 colorson the mantel-shelf, above a very dimly-smoking grate; a long hard-woodsettle extended its uneasy length by the chimney, and here Haley sathim down to meditate on the instability of human hopes and happiness ingeneral.

"What did I want with the little cuss, now," he said to himself, "thatI should have got myself treed like a coon, as I am, this yer way?" andHaley relieved himself by repeating over a not very select litany ofimprecations on himself, which, though there was the best possiblereason 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 wasapparently dismounting at the door. He hurried to the window.

"By the land! if this yer an't the nearest, now, to what I've heardfolks 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 inproportion. He was dressed in a coat of buffalo-skin, made with the hairoutward, which gave him a shaggy and fierce appearance, perfectly inkeeping with the whole air of his physiognomy. In the head and faceevery organ and lineament expressive of brutal and unhesitating violencewas in a state of the highest possible development. Indeed, could ourreaders fancy a bull-dog come unto man's estate, and walking about ina hat and coat, they would have no unapt idea of the general style andeffect 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 expressionabout his keen black eyes, with which every feature of his face seemedsharpened into sympathy; his thin, long nose, ran out as if it was eagerto bore into the nature of things in general; his sleek, thin, blackhair was stuck eagerly forward, and all his motions and evolutionsexpressed a dry, cautious acuteness. The great man poured out a bigtumbler half full of raw spirits, and gulped it down without a word. Thelittle man stood tiptoe, and putting his head first to one side and thenthe other, and snuffing considerately in the directions of the variousbottles, ordered at last a mint julep, in a thin and quivering voice,and with an air of great circumspection. When poured out, he took it andlooked at it with a sharp, complacent air, like a man who thinks he hasdone about the right thing, and hit the nail on the head, and proceededto dispose of it in short and well-advised sips.

"Wal, now, who'd a thought this yer luck 'ad come to me? Why, Loker, howare ye?" said Haley, coming forward, and extending his hand to the bigman.

"The devil!" was the civil reply. "What brought you here, Haley?"

The mousing man, who bore the name of Marks, instantly stopped hissipping, and, poking his head forward, looked shrewdly on the newacquaintance, as a cat sometimes looks at a moving dry leaf, or someother possible object of pursuit.

"I say, Tom, this yer's the luckiest thing in the world. I'm in a devilof a hobble, and you must help me out."

"Ugh? aw! like enough!" grunted his complacent acquaintance. "A body maybe pretty sure of that, when _you're_ glad to see 'em; something to bemade 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 inNatchez."

"Shall be pleased with his acquaintance," said Marks, thrusting out along, thin hand, like a raven's claw. "Mr. Haley, I believe?"

"The same, sir," said Haley. "And now, gentlemen, seein' as we've met sohappily, I think I'll stand up to a small matter of a treat in this hereparlor. So, now, old coon," said he to the man at the bar, "get us hotwater, and sugar, and cigars, and plenty of the _real stuff_ and we'llhave a blow-out."

Behold, then, the candles lighted, the fire stimulated to the burningpoint in the grate, and our three worthies seated round a table, wellspread with all the accessories to good fellowship enumerated before.

Haley began a pathetic recital of his peculiar troubles. Loker shut uphis mouth, and listened to him with gruff and surly attention. Marks,who was anxiously and with much fidgeting compounding a tumbler of punchto his own peculiar taste, occasionally looked up from his employment,and, poking his sharp nose and chin almost into Haley's face, gave themost earnest heed to the whole narrative. The conclusion of it appearedto amuse him extremely, for he shook his shoulders and sides in silence,and perked up his thin lips with an air of great internal enjoyment.

"So, then, ye'r fairly sewed up, an't ye?" he said; "he! he! he! It'sneatly done, too."

"This yer young-un business makes lots of trouble in the trade," saidHaley, dolefully.

"If we could get a breed of gals that didn't care, now, for their younguns," said Marks; "tell ye, I think 't would be 'bout the greatestmod'rn improvement I knows on,"--and Marks patronized his joke by aquiet introductory sniggle.

"Jes so," said Haley; "I never couldn't see into it; young uns is heapsof trouble to 'em; one would think, now, they'd be glad to get clar on'em; but they arn't. And the more trouble a young un is, and the moregood for nothing, as a gen'l thing, the tighter they sticks to 'em."

"Wal, Mr. Haley," said Marks, "'est pass the hot water. Yes, sir, yousay 'est what I feel and all'us have. Now, I bought a gal once, whenI was in the trade,--a tight, likely wench she was, too, and quiteconsiderable smart,--and she had a young un that was mis'able sickly; ithad a crooked back, or something or other; and I jest gin 't away toa man that thought he'd take his chance raising on 't, being it didn'tcost nothin';--never thought, yer know, of the gal's takin' on aboutit,--but, Lord, yer oughter seen how she went on. Why, re'lly, she didseem to me to valley the child more 'cause _'t was_ sickly and cross,and plagued her; and she warn't making b'lieve, neither,--cried aboutit, she did, and lopped round, as if she'd lost every friend she had.It re'lly was droll to think on 't. Lord, there ain't no end to women'snotions."

"Wal, jest so with me," said Haley. "Last summer, down on Red River, Igot a gal traded off on me, with a likely lookin' child enough, and hiseyes looked as bright as yourn; but, come to look, I found him stoneblind. Fact--he was stone blind. Wal, ye see, I thought there warn't noharm in my jest passing him along, and not sayin' nothin'; and I'd gothim nicely swapped off for a keg o' whiskey; but come to get him awayfrom the gal, she was jest like a tiger. So 't was before we started,and I hadn't got my gang chained up; so what should she do but ups ona cotton-bale, like a cat, ketches a knife from one of the deck hands,and, I tell ye, she made all fly for a minit, till she saw 't wan't nouse; and she jest turns round, and pitches head first, young un and all,into the river,--went down plump, and never ris."

"Bah!" said Tom Loker, who had listened to these stories withill-repressed disgust,--"shif'less, both on ye! _my_ gals don't cut upno such shines, I tell ye!"

"Indeed! how do you help it?" said Marks, briskly.

"Help it? why, I buys a gal, and if she's got a young un to be sold, Ijest walks up and puts my fist to her face, and says, 'Look here, now,if you give me one word out of your head, I'll smash yer face in. Iwon't hear one word--not the beginning of a word.' I says to 'em, 'Thisyer young un's mine, and not yourn, and you've no kind o' business withit. I'm going to sell it, first chance; mind, you don't cut up none o'yer shines about it, or I'll make ye wish ye'd never been born.' I tellye, they sees it an't no play, when I gets hold. I makes 'em as whist asfishes; and if one on 'em begins and gives a yelp, why,--" and Mr. Lokerbrought down his fist with a thump that fully explained the hiatus.

"That ar's what ye may call _emphasis_," said Marks, poking Haley in theside, and going into another small giggle. "An't Tom peculiar? he! he! Isay, Tom, I s'pect you make 'em _understand_, for all niggers' heads iswoolly. They don't never have no doubt o' your meaning, Tom. If you an'tthe devil, Tom, you 's his twin brother, I'll say that for ye!"

Tom received the compliment with becoming modesty, and began to lookas affable as was consistent, as John Bunyan says, "with his doggishnature."

Haley, who had been imbibing very freely of the staple of the evening,began to feel a sensible elevation and enlargement of his moralfaculties,--a phenomenon not unusual with gentlemen of a serious andreflective turn, under similar circumstances.

"Wal, now, Tom," he said, "ye re'lly is too bad, as I al'ays have toldye; ye know, Tom, you and I used to talk over these yer matters down inNatchez, and I used to prove to ye that we made full as much, and was aswell off for this yer world, by treatin' on 'em well, besides keepin'a better chance for comin' in the kingdom at last, when wust comes towust, and thar an't nothing else left to get, ye know."

"Boh!" said Tom, "_don't_ I know?--don't make me too sick with any yerstuff,--my stomach is a leetle riled now;" and Tom drank half a glass ofraw brandy.

"I say," said Haley, and leaning back in his chair and gesturingimpressively, "I'll say this now, I al'ays meant to drive my trade so asto make money on 't _fust and foremost_, as much as any man; but, then,trade an't everything, and money an't everything, 'cause we 's all gotsouls. I don't care, now, who hears me say it,--and I think a cussedsight on it,--so I may as well come out with it. I b'lieve in religion,and one of these days, when I've got matters tight and snug, Icalculates to tend to my soul and them ar matters; and so what's the useof doin' any more wickedness than 's re'lly necessary?--it don't seem tome it's 't all prudent."

"Tend to yer soul!" repeated Tom, contemptuously; "take a bright lookoutto find a soul in you,--save yourself any care on that score. If thedevil sifts you through a hair sieve, he won't find one."

"Why, Tom, you're cross," said Haley; "why can't ye take it pleasant,now, when a feller's talking for your good?"

"Stop that ar jaw o' yourn, there," said Tom, gruffly. "I can stand mostany talk o' yourn but your pious talk,--that kills me right up. Afterall, what's the odds between me and you? 'Tan't that you care one bitmore, or have a bit more feelin'--it's clean, sheer, dog meanness,wanting to cheat the devil and save your own skin; don't I see throughit? And your 'gettin' religion,' as you call it, arter all, is toop'isin mean for any crittur;--run up a bill with the devil all yourlife, and then sneak out when pay time comes! Bob!"

"Come, come, gentlemen, I say; this isn't business," said Marks."There's different ways, you know, of looking at all subjects. Mr. Haleyis a very nice man, no doubt, and has his own conscience; and, Tom, youhave your ways, and very good ones, too, Tom; but quarrelling, you know,won't answer no kind of purpose. Let's go to business. Now, Mr. Haley,what is it?--you want us to undertake to catch this yer gal?"

"The gal's no matter of mine,--she's Shelby's; it's only the boy. I wasa fool for buying the monkey!"

"You're generally a fool!" said Tom, gruffly.

"Come, now, Loker, none of your huffs," said Marks, licking his lips;"you see, Mr. Haley 's a puttin' us in a way of a good job, I reckon;just hold still--these yer arrangements is my forte. This yer gal, Mr.Haley, how is she? what is she?"

"Wal! white and handsome--well brought up. I'd a gin Shelby eighthundred or a thousand, and then made well on her."

"White and handsome--well brought up!" said Marks, his sharp eyes,nose and mouth, all alive with enterprise. "Look here, now, Loker, abeautiful opening. We'll do a business here on our own account;--we doesthe catchin'; the boy, of course, goes to Mr. Haley,--we takes the galto Orleans to speculate on. An't it beautiful?"

Tom, whose great heavy mouth had stood ajar during this communication,now suddenly snapped it together, as a big dog closes on a piece ofmeat, and seemed to be digesting the idea at his leisure.

"Ye see," said Marks to Haley, stirring his punch as he did so, "ye see,we has justices convenient at all p'ints along shore, that does up anylittle jobs in our line quite reasonable. Tom, he does the knockin' downand that ar; and I come in all dressed up--shining boots--everythingfirst chop, when the swearin' 's to be done. You oughter see, now," saidMarks, in a glow of professional pride, "how I can tone it off. One day,I'm Mr. Twickem, from New Orleans; 'nother day, I'm just come from myplantation on Pearl River, where I works seven hundred niggers; then,again, I come out a distant relation of Henry Clay, or some old cock inKentuck. Talents is different, you know. Now, Tom's roarer when there'sany thumping or fighting to be done; but at lying he an't good, Toman't,--ye see it don't come natural to him; but, Lord, if thar's afeller in the country that can swear to anything and everything, and putin all the circumstances and flourishes with a long face, and carry 'tthrough better 'n I can, why, I'd like to see him, that's all! I b'lievemy heart, I could get along and snake through, even if justices weremore particular than they is. Sometimes I rather wish they was moreparticular; 't would be a heap more relishin' if they was,--more fun,yer know."

Tom Loker, who, as we have made it appear, was a man of slow thoughtsand movements, here interrupted Marks by bringing his heavy fist down onthe table, so as to make all ring again, _"It'll do!"_ he said.

"Lord bless ye, Tom, ye needn't break all the glasses!" said Marks;"save your fist for time o' need."

"But, gentlemen, an't I to come in for a share of the profits?" saidHaley.

"An't it enough we catch the boy for ye?" said Loker. "What do ye want?"

"Wal," said Haley, "if I gives you the job, it's worth something,--sayten per cent. on the profits, expenses paid."

"Now," said Loker, with a tremendous oath, and striking the table withhis heavy fist, "don't I know _you_, Dan Haley? Don't you think to comeit over me! Suppose Marks and I have taken up the catchin' trade, jestto 'commodate gentlemen like you, and get nothin' for ourselves?--Not bya long chalk! we'll have the gal out and out, and you keep quiet, or, yesee, we'll have both,--what's to hinder? Han't you show'd us the game?It's as free to us as you, I hope. If you or Shelby wants to chase us,look where the partridges was last year; if you find them or us, you'requite welcome."

"O, wal, certainly, jest let it go at that," said Haley, alarmed; "youcatch the boy for the job;--you allers did trade _far_ with me, Tom, andwas up to yer word."

"Ye know that," said Tom; "I don't pretend none of your snivelling ways,but I won't lie in my 'counts with the devil himself. What I ses I'lldo, I will do,--you know _that_, Dan Haley."

"Jes so, jes so,--I said so, Tom," said Haley; "and if you'd onlypromise to have the boy for me in a week, at any point you'll name,that's all I want."

"But it an't all I want, by a long jump," said Tom. "Ye don't think Idid business with you, down in Natchez, for nothing, Haley; I've learnedto hold an eel, when I catch him. You've got to fork over fifty dollars,flat down, or this child don't start a peg. I know yer."

"Why, when you have a job in hand that may bring a clean profitof somewhere about a thousand or sixteen hundred, why, Tom, you'reonreasonable," said Haley.

"Yes, and hasn't we business booked for five weeks to come,--all we cando? And suppose we leaves all, and goes to bush-whacking round arter yeryoung uns, and finally doesn't catch the gal,--and gals allers is thedevil _to_ catch,--what's then? would you pay us a cent--would you? Ithink I see you a doin' it--ugh! No, no; flap down your fifty. If weget the job, and it pays, I'll hand it back; if we don't, it's for ourtrouble,--that's _far_, an't it, Marks?"

"Certainly, certainly," said Marks, with a conciliatory tone; "it's onlya retaining fee, you see,--he! he! he!--we lawyers, you know. Wal, wemust all keep good-natured,--keep easy, yer know. Tom'll have the boyfor yer, anywhere ye'll name; won't ye, Tom?"

"If I find the young un, I'll bring him on to Cincinnati, and leave himat Granny Belcher's, on the landing," said Loker.

Marks had got from his pocket a greasy pocket-book, and taking a longpaper from thence, he sat down, and fixing his keen black eyes on it,began mumbling over its contents: "Barnes--Shelby County--boy Jim, threehundred dollars for him, dead or alive.

"Edwards--Dick and Lucy--man and wife, six hundred dollars; wench Pollyand two children--six hundred for her or her head.

"I'm jest a runnin' over our business, to see if we can take up this yerhandily. Loker," he said, after a pause, "we must set Adams and Springeron the track of these yer; they've been booked some time."

"They'll charge too much," said Tom.

"I'll manage that ar; they 's young in the business, and must spect towork cheap," said Marks, as he continued to read. "Ther's three on 'emeasy cases, 'cause all you've got to do is to shoot 'em, or swear theyis shot; they couldn't, of course, charge much for that. Them othercases," he said, folding the paper, "will bear puttin' off a spell. Sonow let's come to the particulars. Now, Mr. Haley, you saw this yer galwhen she landed?"

"To be sure,--plain as I see you."

"And a man helpin' on her up the bank?" said Loker.

"To be sure, I did."

"Most likely," said Marks, "she's took in somewhere; but where, 's aquestion. Tom, what do you say?"

"We must cross the river tonight, no mistake," said Tom.

"But there's no boat about," said Marks. "The ice is running awfully,Tom; an't it dangerous?"

"Don'no nothing 'bout that,--only it's got to be done," said Tom,decidedly.

"Dear me," said Marks, fidgeting, "it'll be--I say," he said, walking tothe window, "it's dark as a wolf's mouth, and, Tom--"

"The long and short is, you're scared, Marks; but I can't helpthat,--you've got to go. Suppose you want to lie by a day or two, tillthe gal 's been carried on the underground line up to Sandusky or so,before you start."

"O, no; I an't a grain afraid," said Marks, "only--"

"Only what?" said Tom.

"Well, about the boat. Yer see there an't any boat."

"I heard the woman say there was one coming along this evening, and thata man was going to cross over in it. Neck or nothing, we must go withhim," said Tom.

"I s'pose you've got good dogs," said Haley.

"First rate," said Marks. "But what's the use? you han't got nothin' o'hers to smell on."

"Yes, I have," said Haley, triumphantly. "Here's her shawl she left onthe bed in her hurry; she left her bonnet, too."

"That ar's lucky," said Loker; "fork over."

"Though the dogs might damage the gal, if they come on her unawars,"said Haley.

"That ar's a consideration," said Marks. "Our dogs tore a feller half topieces, once, down in Mobile, 'fore we could get 'em off."

"Well, ye see, for this sort that's to be sold for their looks, that arwon't answer, ye see," said Haley.

"I do see," said Marks. "Besides, if she's got took in, 'tan't no go,neither. Dogs is no 'count in these yer up states where these crittersgets carried; of course, ye can't get on their track. They only doesdown in plantations, where niggers, when they runs, has to do their ownrunning, and don't get no help."

"Well," said Loker, who had just stepped out to the bar to make someinquiries, "they say the man's come with the boat; so, Marks--"

That worthy cast a rueful look at the comfortable quarters he wasleaving, but slowly rose to obey. After exchanging a few words offurther arrangement, Haley, with visible reluctance, handed over thefifty dollars to Tom, and the worthy trio separated for the night.

If any of our refined and Christian readers object to the society intowhich this scene introduces them, let us beg them to begin and conquertheir prejudices in time. The catching business, we beg to remind them,is rising to the dignity of a lawful and patriotic profession. If allthe broad land between the Mississippi and the Pacific becomes one greatmarket for bodies and souls, and human property retains the locomotivetendencies of this nineteenth century, the trader and catcher may yet beamong our aristocracy.

While this scene was going on at the tavern, Sam and Andy, in a state ofhigh felicitation, pursued their way home.

Sam was in the highest possible feather, and expressed his exultation byall sorts of supernatural howls and ejaculations, by divers odd motionsand contortions of his whole system. Sometimes he would sit backward,with his face to the horse's tail and sides, and then, with a whoop anda somerset, come right side up in his place again, and, drawing on agrave face, begin to lecture Andy in high-sounding tones for laughingand playing the fool. Anon, slapping his sides with his arms, he wouldburst forth in peals of laughter, that made the old woods ring as theypassed. With all these evolutions, he contrived to keep the horses upto the top of their speed, until, between ten and eleven, their heelsresounded on the gravel at the end of the balcony. Mrs. Shelby flew tothe railings.

"Is that you, Sam? Where are they?"

"Mas'r Haley 's a-restin' at the tavern; he's drefful fatigued, Missis."

"And Eliza, Sam?"

"Wal, she's clar 'cross Jordan. As a body may say, in the land o'Canaan."

"Why, Sam, what _do_ you mean?" said Mrs. Shelby, breathless, and almostfaint, as the possible meaning of these words came over her.

"Wal, Missis, de Lord he persarves his own. Lizy's done gone over theriver into 'Hio, as 'markably as if de Lord took her over in a charritof fire and two hosses."

Sam's vein of piety was always uncommonly fervent in his mistress'presence; and he made great capital of scriptural figures and images.

"Come up here, Sam," said Mr. Shelby, who had followed on to theverandah, "and tell your mistress what she wants. Come, come, Emily,"said he, passing his arm round her, "you are cold and all in a shiver;you allow yourself to feel too much."

"Feel too much! Am not I a woman,--a mother? Are we not both responsibleto God for this poor girl? My God! lay not this sin to our charge."

"What sin, Emily? You see yourself that we have only done what we wereobliged to."

"There's an awful feeling of guilt about it, though," said Mrs. Shelby."I can't reason it away."

"Here, Andy, you nigger, be alive!" called Sam, under the verandah;"take these yer hosses to der barn; don't ye hear Mas'r a callin'?" andSam soon appeared, palm-leaf in hand, at the parlor door.

"Now, Sam, tell us distinctly how the matter was," said Mr. Shelby."Where is Eliza, if you know?"

"Wal, Mas'r, I saw her, with my own eyes, a crossin' on the floatin'ice. She crossed most 'markably; it wasn't no less nor a miracle; and Isaw a man help her up the 'Hio side, and then she was lost in the dusk."

"Sam, I think this rather apocryphal,--this miracle. Crossing onfloating ice isn't so easily done," said Mr. Shelby.

"Easy! couldn't nobody a done it, without de Lord. Why, now," said Sam,"'t was jist dis yer way. Mas'r Haley, and me, and Andy, we comes upto de little tavern by the river, and I rides a leetle ahead,--(I's sozealous to be a cotchin' Lizy, that I couldn't hold in, no way),--andwhen I comes by the tavern winder, sure enough there she was, right inplain sight, and dey diggin' on behind. Wal, I loses off my hat, andsings out nuff to raise the dead. Course Lizy she hars, and she dodgesback, when Mas'r Haley he goes past the door; and then, I tell ye, sheclared out de side door; she went down de river bank;--Mas'r Haley heseed her, and yelled out, and him, and me, and Andy, we took arter. Downshe come to the river, and thar was the current running ten feet wideby the shore, and over t' other side ice a sawin' and a jiggling up anddown, kinder as 't were a great island. We come right behind her, and Ithought my soul he'd got her sure enough,--when she gin sich a screechas I never hearn, and thar she was, clar over t' other side ofthe current, on the ice, and then on she went, a screeching and ajumpin',--the ice went crack! c'wallop! cracking! chunk! and she aboundin' like a buck! Lord, the spring that ar gal's got in her an'tcommon, I'm o' 'pinion."

Mrs. Shelby sat perfectly silent, pale with excitement, while Sam toldhis story.

"God be praised, she isn't dead!" she said; "but where is the poor childnow?"

"De Lord will pervide," said Sam, rolling up his eyes piously. "As I'vebeen a sayin', dis yer 's a providence and no mistake, as Missis hasallers been a instructin' on us. Thar's allers instruments ris up to dode Lord's will. Now, if 't hadn't been for me today, she'd a been tooka dozen times. Warn't it I started off de hosses, dis yer mornin' andkept 'em chasin' till nigh dinner time? And didn't I car Mas'r Haleynight five miles out of de road, dis evening, or else he'd a come upwith Lizy as easy as a dog arter a coon. These yer 's all providences."

"They are a kind of providences that you'll have to be pretty sparingof, Master Sam. I allow no such practices with gentlemen on my place,"said Mr. Shelby, with as much sternness as he could command, under thecircumstances.

Now, there is no more use in making believe be angry with a negro thanwith a child; both instinctively see the true state of the case, throughall attempts to affect the contrary; and Sam was in no wise disheartenedby this rebuke, though he assumed an air of doleful gravity, and stoodwith the corners of his mouth lowered in most penitential style.

"Mas'r quite right,--quite; it was ugly on me,--there's no disputin'that ar; and of course Mas'r and Missis wouldn't encourage no suchworks. I'm sensible of dat ar; but a poor nigger like me 's 'mazin'tempted to act ugly sometimes, when fellers will cut up such shines asdat ar Mas'r Haley; he an't no gen'l'man no way; anybody's been raisedas I've been can't help a seein' dat ar."

"Well, Sam," said Mrs. Shelby, "as you appear to have a proper sense ofyour errors, you may go now and tell Aunt Chloe she may get you someof that cold ham that was left of dinner today. You and Andy must behungry."

"Missis is a heap too good for us," said Sam, making his bow withalacrity, and departing.

It will be perceived, as has been before intimated, that Master Sam hada native talent that might, undoubtedly, have raised him to eminencein political life,--a talent of making capital out of everything thatturned up, to be invested for his own especial praise and glory;and having done up his piety and humility, as he trusted, to thesatisfaction of the parlor, he clapped his palm-leaf on his head, witha sort of rakish, free-and-easy air, and proceeded to the dominions ofAunt Chloe, with the intention of flourishing largely in the kitchen.

"I'll speechify these yer niggers," said Sam to himself, "now I've got achance. Lord, I'll reel it off to make 'em stare!"

It must be observed that one of Sam's especial delights had been to ridein attendance on his master to all kinds of political gatherings, where,roosted on some rail fence, or perched aloft in some tree, he wouldsit watching the orators, with the greatest apparent gusto, and then,descending among the various brethren of his own color, assembled onthe same errand, he would edify and delight them with the most ludicrousburlesques and imitations, all delivered with the most imperturbableearnestness and solemnity; and though the auditors immediately about himwere generally of his own color, it not infrequently happened thatthey were fringed pretty deeply with those of a fairer complexion, wholistened, laughing and winking, to Sam's great self-congratulation.In fact, Sam considered oratory as his vocation, and never let slip anopportunity of magnifying his office.

Now, between Sam and Aunt Chloe there had existed, from ancient times,a sort of chronic feud, or rather a decided coolness; but, as Sam wasmeditating something in the provision department, as the necessary andobvious foundation of his operations, he determined, on the presentoccasion, to be eminently conciliatory; for he well knew that although"Missis' orders" would undoubtedly be followed to the letter, yethe should gain a considerable deal by enlisting the spirit also. Hetherefore appeared before Aunt Chloe with a touchingly subdued, resignedexpression, like one who has suffered immeasurable hardships in behalfof a persecuted fellow-creature,--enlarged upon the fact that Missis haddirected him to come to Aunt Chloe for whatever might be wanting tomake up the balance in his solids and fluids,--and thus unequivocallyacknowledged her right and supremacy in the cooking department, and allthereto pertaining.

The thing took accordingly. No poor, simple, virtuous body was evercajoled by the attentions of an electioneering politician with more easethan Aunt Chloe was won over by Master Sam's suavities; and if he hadbeen the prodigal son himself, he could not have been overwhelmed withmore maternal bountifulness; and he soon found himself seated, happy andglorious, over a large tin pan, containing a sort of _olla podrida_ ofall that had appeared on the table for two or three days past. Savorymorsels of ham, golden blocks of corn-cake, fragments of pie ofevery conceivable mathematical figure, chicken wings, gizzards, anddrumsticks, all appeared in picturesque confusion; and Sam, as monarchof all he surveyed, sat with his palm-leaf cocked rejoicingly to oneside, and patronizing Andy at his right hand.

The kitchen was full of all his compeers, who had hurried and crowdedin, from the various cabins, to hear the termination of the day'sexploits. Now was Sam's hour of glory. The story of the day wasrehearsed, with all kinds of ornament and varnishing which might benecessary to heighten its effect; for Sam, like some of our fashionabledilettanti, never allowed a story to lose any of its gilding by passingthrough his hands. Roars of laughter attended the narration, and weretaken up and prolonged by all the smaller fry, who were lying, in anyquantity, about on the floor, or perched in every corner. In theheight of the uproar and laughter, Sam, however, preserved an immovablegravity, only from time to time rolling his eyes up, and giving hisauditors divers inexpressibly droll glances, without departing from thesententious elevation of his oratory.

"Yer see, fellow-countrymen," said Sam, elevating a turkey's leg, withenergy, "yer see, now what dis yer chile 's up ter, for fendin' yerall,--yes, all on yer. For him as tries to get one o' our people is asgood as tryin' to get all; yer see the principle 's de same,--dat ar'sclar. And any one o' these yer drivers that comes smelling round arterany our people, why, he's got _me_ in his way; _I'm_ the feller he's gotto set in with,--I'm the feller for yer all to come to, bredren,--I'llstand up for yer rights,--I'll fend 'em to the last breath!"

"Why, but Sam, yer telled me, only this mornin', that you'd help thisyer Mas'r to cotch Lizy; seems to me yer talk don't hang together," saidAndy.

"I tell you now, Andy," said Sam, with awful superiority, "don't yerbe a talkin' 'bout what yer don't know nothin' on; boys like you,Andy, means well, but they can't be spected to collusitate the greatprinciples of action."

Andy looked rebuked, particularly by the hard word collusitate, whichmost of the youngerly members of the company seemed to consider as asettler in the case, while Sam proceeded.

"Dat ar was _conscience_, Andy; when I thought of gwine arter Lizy, Irailly spected Mas'r was sot dat way. When I found Missis was sot thecontrar, dat ar was conscience _more yet_,--cause fellers allers getsmore by stickin' to Missis' side,--so yer see I 's persistent eitherway, and sticks up to conscience, and holds on to principles. Yes,_principles_," said Sam, giving an enthusiastic toss to a chicken'sneck,--"what's principles good for, if we isn't persistent, I wanterknow? Thar, Andy, you may have dat ar bone,--tan't picked quite clean."

Sam's audience hanging on his words with open mouth, he could not butproceed.

"Dis yer matter 'bout persistence, feller-niggers," said Sam, with theair of one entering into an abstruse subject, "dis yer 'sistency 's athing what an't seed into very clar, by most anybody. Now, yer see, whena feller stands up for a thing one day and night, de contrar de next,folks ses (and nat'rally enough dey ses), why he an't persistent,--handme dat ar bit o' corn-cake, Andy. But let's look inter it. I hopethe gen'lmen and der fair sex will scuse my usin' an or'nary sort o''parison. Here! I'm a trying to get top o' der hay. Wal, I puts up mylarder dis yer side; 'tan't no go;--den, cause I don't try dere nomore, but puts my larder right de contrar side, an't I persistent? I'mpersistent in wantin' to get up which ary side my larder is; don't yousee, all on yer?"

"It's the only thing ye ever was persistent in, Lord knows!" mutteredAunt Chloe, who was getting rather restive; the merriment of the eveningbeing to her somewhat after the Scripture comparison,--like "vinegarupon nitre."

"Yes, indeed!" said Sam, rising, full of supper and glory, for a closingeffort. "Yes, my feller-citizens and ladies of de other sex in general,I has principles,--I'm proud to 'oon 'em,--they 's perquisite to deseyer times, and ter _all_ times. I has principles, and I sticks to 'emlike forty,--jest anything that I thinks is principle, I goes in to't;--I wouldn't mind if dey burnt me 'live,--I'd walk right up to destake, I would, and say, here I comes to shed my last blood fur myprinciples, fur my country, fur de gen'l interests of society."

"Well," said Aunt Chloe, "one o' yer principles will have to be toget to bed some time tonight, and not be a keepin' everybody up tillmornin'; now, every one of you young uns that don't want to be cracked,had better be scase, mighty sudden."

"Niggers! all on yer," said Sam, waving his palm-leaf with benignity, "Igive yer my blessin'; go to bed now, and be good boys."

And, with this pathetic benediction, the assembly dispersed.