"No; he won't die this time. But I don't much like his looks, Master
George. Seems the sort of fellow to turn ugly and knock me down with
the big hoe, and I shan't like that, nor my wife neither. Where's young
smutty?"
"Under the corn-stalks in the corner."
"What, hiding?"
"Yes."
"Here, stop a minute till I get the pitchfork; I'll soon turn him out."
"No, no," I cried; "they're to be treated gently."
"And as if they were human beings," said my father's stern voice, for he
had come silently behind us. "Have the goodness to remember that,
Morgan. If I am to be a slave-owner, my people shall meet with
consideration, and not be treated as if they were the beasts of the
field. Do you understand?"
"Oh yes, sir, I understand," said Morgan, good-humouredly; "you can
count on me doing what's right by them. They can't help the colour of
their skins."
"I am satisfied," said my father, quietly, and he left us staring in
that heavy, sombre face before us--a face full of despair, but one to
which we could not address words of sympathy.
The change that took place in the man day by day was wonderful, as far
as health was concerned. In three days he was walking slowly about; in
a week he was ready to take the tool in hand which Morgan gave him, and
he went on clumsily with the work he was set to do, but displaying
strength that was the admiration of us all. But he was moody,
shrinking, and suspicious, and the boy was precisely the same. For it
always seemed to me that the boy was constantly on the look-out to avoid
a blow or some ill-usage on my part, and his companion to be expecting
it from my father. The treatment they had been receiving for months had
utterly cowed them, but when they began to realise that they had fallen
among friends, the change was rapid indeed.
Of course they could not understand us, and when they spoke, which was
very seldom, their language was utterly beyond our comprehension; but we
got on pretty well by signs, after a few weeks when the change came.
It was one glorious afternoon, when, after worrying Morgan into getting
me some bait, I prepared my rough lines for fishing, and while I was
disentangling the hooks which had been thrown carelessly together, the
boy who was passing nodded and looked on.
"Going fishing," I said. "Come with me?"
He looked at me without comprehension, and when I took hold of him by
the arm, he shrank away.
"Oh, I say," I said, "I wish you wouldn't. Who's going to hit you?
Carry this basket."
I placed one in his hand, and gave him the pot containing the bait in
the other, signed to him to follow, and in a dull, sad way he came
behind to where the boat was moored; but as soon as he saw me step in,
he began to look wildly out into the stream, and to shrink away.
"It's all right," I said, "there's no slaver out there. Come along."
But he shrank away more and more, with his eyes dilating, and he said a
few words quite fiercely in his own tongue.
"Don't be so stupid," I said, jumping out and securing him just in time
to stop him from running off with my bait and lines.
He struggled for a moment, but ceased, and in a drooping, dejected way
allowed me to lead him to the boat, into which he stepped sadly, and
dropped down in a sitting position, with his legs under him, and his
head bent upon his breast.
"Oh, I say," I cried, "don't do that. Look here; we are going fishing.
Here, take an oar and row."
I had cast off the boat, and we were floating down the stream as I
placed the oar in his hands, took the other, and in a sad, depressed,
obedient way, he clumsily imitated my actions, rowing steadily if not
ably on.
"There," I said, when we were as far out as I wished to be; "that will
do. Lay your oar in like that," and I laid down my own.
He obeyed me, and then sat looking at me as mournfully as if I were
going to drown him.
"Oh, I do wish you'd try and take it differently," I said, looking
pleasantly at him the while. "Now, look here, I'm going to catch a
fish."
As I spoke, I put a large bait on the strong hook I had ready, threw it
over the side, and twisted the stout cord round my hand, while the boy
sat watching me.
"Well, you have got a bit better," I said to him; "the other day you
always wanted to bite. Do try and come round, because you're not a
slave, after all. Oh!"
I uttered a yell, as I started up to pay out line, for, as we floated
gently down stream, there was a tremendous tug which cut my hand, and
seemed ready to jerk my arm from out its socket.
But I had so twisted the line that I could not pay it out, and as I
stood, there came another so fierce a tug that I lost my balance, caught
at the boy to save myself, and the light boat careened over, and seemed
to shoot us both out into the river.
For a few moments the water thundered in my ears; the great fish, which
must have been a gar pike, tugged at my hand, broke away, and I was
swimming with the black head of the boy close by me, as we struggled as
quickly as we could to the bank, reached it together, climbed out, and I
dropped down into a sitting position, with my companion staring
wonderingly at me.
His aspect was so comical, and his eyes sought mine in such a wondering
way, as if asking me whether this was the way I went fishing, that I
burst out into an uncontrollable roar of laughter, when, to my utter
astonishment, the sad black face before me began to expand, the eyes to
twinkle, the white teeth to show, and for the first time perhaps for
months the boy laughed as merrily as I did.
Then, all at once, I remembered the boat, which was floating steadily
away down stream toward the big river, and pointing to it, I ran as far
as I could along the bank, and plunged in to swim out and secure it.
There was another plunge and the boy was by my side, and we swam on, he
being ready to leave me behind, being far more active in the water than
I. But he kept waiting for me, till I pointed on at the boat, and he
seemed to understand, and went on.
The boat had gone into a swift current, and it was a long way from where
I swam, and by degrees I began to find that I had rather miscalculated
my strength. I was only lightly clad, but my clothes began to feel
heavy, the banks to look a long way off, and the boat as far; while all
at once the thought struck me, after I had been swimming some time, that
I should never be able to reach the boat or the shore.
I tried to get rid of the fancy, but it would not go, and one effect of
that thought was to make me swim more quickly than I should have done,
or, as I should express it, use my limbs more rapidly than I ought, so
that I was quickly growing tired, and at last so utterly worn out that a
cold chill came over me. I looked despairingly to right and left at the
beautiful tree-hung river-side, and then forward to where the boy had
just reached the boat, and saw him climb in, the sun shining upon his
wet back.
"Hi! Boy!" I shouted, "take the oars, and row."
I might as well have held my tongue, for he could not understand a word;
and as I shouted again and again I looked at him despairingly, for he
was sitting on the thwart laughing, with the boat gliding downstream
faster than I seemed to be able to swim, while I knew that I should
never be able to overtake it, and that I was getting deeper in the
water.
"Oh, if I could only make him understand!--if I could only make him
understand!" I kept thinking, as I shouted again hoarsely; and this
time he did seem to comprehend that something was wrong, for I saw him
jump up and begin making signs to me. Then he shouted something, and I
saw that he was about to jump in again as if to come to me.
But he stopped, and took up one of the oars, to begin rowing, but of
course only to send the boat round. Then, as if puzzled, he put the oar
over the other side, and rowed hard like that, to send the boat's head
in the other direction, repeating this again and again, and now standing
up to shout to me.
I could not shout in return, only stare at him wildly, as he kept on
making ineffective efforts to row to me, till all seemed to be over; the
bright water and the beautiful green banks began to grow misty; and I
knew that though I might keep struggling on for a few minutes, I should
never reach the boat, and that he would never be able to row it to me.
I did not feel in much trouble nor get in any great alarm, for I suppose
the severe exertion dulled everything, and robbed my sufferings of their
poignancy as I still swam on more and more slowly, with my starting eyes
fixed upon the boat still many yards away from me, and growing more and
more dim as the water began to bubble about my lips.
All at once in front of me I saw the boy's black figure rise up in the
boat like a shadow. Then there was a splash and the water flashed up,
and I knew he must be swimming toward me to help me; but I could not see
that he had taken the rope in his teeth, after finding himself unable to
row in my direction, and had essayed to swim to me and tug the boat in
his wake.
This in so swift a stream was impossible, but his brave act saved my
life, for he was able to hold his own by swimming hard till the current
bore me down to him just as I was sinking; and my next recollection is
of feeling myself clutched and my hand being raised to the edge of the
boat, while one arm was about my waist.
The feeling of comparative security brought back my fleeting senses, and
I made a convulsive clutch with the other hand at the gunwale; while the
next thing I remember is feeling myself helped over the side by the boy,
who had climbed in, and lying in the bottom with the sun beating down
upon me--sick almost to death.