The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1863-08-12


li-f, 80 / allowed 'twus jess as well TO let YOU
hev him cap 70 90 down river. That's hos
% Acrk item fractions runaway niggers. Thai
ares my patent Yer Kin have il fur nothin
Haa hs~
HaW, hawl hawl You're one Of ther BOYS
Pm dun sorry that are trick can't be did twicel
on the sane niger. l reckon be knows toe
much for that
Wal, ,'pose we walk round to the cala-
boose, fore We 60 10 bed, an see ef he's chained
up all right"
They went out.
Biddulph spoke hrst
Shame ="
"Yes, " said Brent " DO you wonder that we
have to run away to the Rockeys and spend
our indignation on grizzlys ~
"What are We going to do now -
Try to abolish slavery in Hams case Come;
ven 20 buy him a file"
We seem to have business with the Murker
/ family" said
a hard lot they are Representative
brutes :"
al am getting a knowledge OF all classes on
your continent, said Biddulph. Some | Ike
better than others"
Don't be too harsh on Us malcontents for
the sin Of slavery. IL Is an ancestral taint. We
shall burn it out before many decades"
You had better, or it will set your own house
on fire." Os59-60)
It was late as we walked along the streets,
channels Of fever aud ague now frozen up for
the winter. We saw light through a shop door
and hammered stoutly for admission.
clerk, long haired and frowzy, opened un-
giaciously.
IL the back shop were three men, also long
haired and frowzy, dealing cards and drinking
dark compost from tumbers.
Port wine," whispered Brent. Fine old
London Dock Port is the favorite beverage,
when the editor, the lawyer, the apothecary and
. the merchant meet 70 play euchre in Missouri"
We bought our files from the sury clerk and
made for the calsboose. Ii was a stout long
structure with grated windows. At one OF
these, by the low moonlight, we saw a negro. 1t
vas cold and late. Nobody was near We hail
cd the man.
" Ham,
" That me, massa'
You're sold to Murker, to 90 south tomor-
row. If YOU want to get free, catchl"
Brent tossed him up the files
" Catch again, said Bddulph and up went
rattling purse, Englands subsidy.
Hams white teeth and genteel manners ap-
peared at once. He grinned and whispered
thanks.
" Is that all that We can os' asked the Bar
onet as We walked off
Yes" said Brent, talking a nasal tone.
" Hams poplar niger, a handy niger, one
er yer raal ambishus sort He can cut har, fry
a beefsteak, aud play on a fiddle like a minstril
He kin shoe mule, drive team. do a little H.
ner work. and make stOmpers Yes, Bdduph,
trust him TO kuaw himself free with that Con
necticut rat TAIL
Ham against Japhet; hope he'll win"
Now, said Brent, THAT we've put in action
Christ's Golden Rule, Jeifers0ns Declaration of
Independence, and all the wisdom's Preamble to
the Constitution, We can sleep the sleep of well
dOers, if We have two man -stealers-and one
the brother OF murderer-Only paDered of
from Us"
THE following morning tney resume their
journey)
The day. after the crisp frostiness of its be-
ginning, was belated day of Indian summer
mild as the golden mornings of that calm, lux
uri0us time. We stopped TO noon in a sunny
spot of open pasture near a wide, muddy slough
OF the Missouri. This reservoir for the brew
age of shades for Pixies had been reflled in some
autumn rise of the river, and lay a great stag
nant lake along the roadside, a mile or so long
two hundred yards broad.
We camped by fallen cottonwood near the
slough. The atmosphere was hopeful. We
picncked merrily, men aud beasts. "Three
gentlemen at once over a chicken soon dissipa-
ted this and its trimmings We lightened the
tranquil calumet, and louneed, watching our
horses at their corn.
Presently we began to fancy We heard, then
to think We heard, at last to De sure we heard
the bayng of hounds through the mild golden
air.
Italy no" cried Biddulph, "what day for
almost as well as the clouds"
Music music :" cried he again. sprincinr
up, as the sound, increasing, rose and fell along
the peaceful air that lay on earth so lovingly.
Music, if it were in merrie England, where
the hunt are gentlemen. A cursed uproar
here, where the hunt are men-stealers" said
Brent
"No," said BidduIph. Those are fables of
the old, barbarous days Of the MOrmons. can't
believe in dogs after men until / see it.
"rm afraid it's our friend Ham they are after
This would be his line of escape
At the word, a rustling in the oushes along
the slough, and Ham burst through. He turned
to run. We shouted. He knew Us, and flung
himself, lurid with terror and painting with
fight, on the ground at our feet-"the poplar
niger"
90, massa.0 he gasped. "Dey's gone sot the
dogs on me. W nat II DO
"Can you swimsn said l.; for to me he was
kneelng.
mo, massa; or Tde bin cross this yer sloo
fore dis"
Can you ride?
"Reck'n l kin, Massa"
A burst OF baying from the hounds.
The black shook with terror.
| sprang to Fulano "Work for you. old
boy" said to him, as flung the saddle over
his head.
Take minel said nv two friends at breath.
." No Fulano understands this business
Chase or fight, al one to him, so he battles the
brutes."
FulanO neGhed and beat the ground with ca
ger hoois as | buckled the bride.
Cant we show fght?" said Biddulph.
ThereN be a dozen on the hun, Il is one
of the entertainments hereabouts Besides
they would raise the posse on Us. You forget
we're in a slave State, an enemy's country"
| led FulanO to the brink. He stood motion
less, eveing NE, just as he eyed me in that ter
rible pause in Lsggernel Alley.
Here, Ham, up with you Put across the
slough. He swms Ike an alligator Then
make for the north star. and leave the horse for
Mr. Richard Wade, at the fremont House, Chi
cago. Treat him ike brother, Ham"
LOr' bress YOU. massa l will dat"
He vaulted up, Ike sprightly niger, one
Of the raal ambishus sort"
The baying came nearer, nearer, ringing sweet
II through the golden quiet Of noon.
l launched Fulano with an urgent whisper.
Two hundred yards TO swim, and then all clear
n fraa1orr,