Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1888-12-27

black man, putty gal, ugly ole oman,
all no en- dark togeder. But mas'r en-
big hurry; Myra. TOO. See ere, mas'r,
see dey leaves2 Dey stain wild hearts
blood where one man shoot oder en-
duel. See dis hone2 Dat picaniny
bone wha' der mammy strangle en- he
cradle. See dis rope? Dat hang
Black Jim case he kin he mas'r n
missus Sec
"Nevermind the balance, cried the
young man. impatiently. II know
the catalogue. 'Eye of newt and toe
OF frog. You don't suppose believe
in your gibberish, do youP l only
want 70 satisfy Myra that mean
honestly by her, and if she thinks
your youdoo charms will bind me
closer. get to work with your hellish
ingredients and let's see what you
make Of them, old Satan's grand
mother.
Eli yii young mass SO funnyi mex
ole oman Taught Putty Myra right,
obeah oman mex charm you neb' part
nummo' Now / work. ="
As she drew near the fire, my fas-
cinating eyes never left her for mo-
ment. The young man and girl stood
close together His arms were clasped
around her, and she stood with her
beautiful face lifted TO his. But his
eyes were on tho old witch. The four
sentinels stood motionless at their
posts and watched her too. So did Ike
with ashy face, starting eyes and blub-
Der lips, trembling over the awful
word "Noudoo!" So did Cesar,
crouchGd close to his master feet, his
morsel Of d tail clear out Of sight, and
shrinking in his hide as il he were try
ing TO get olit Of it, Strange, even in
moment Of supreme expectation, how
trivial details viii strike tic eye. 1t
seemed to me my gaze had never left
the hideous face OF old Venus, vet all
these things flashed on me, and in the
same instant | was looking fixedly at
her.
She drew close to the fire and cast
into il various articles drawn one by
one from u bag, mumbling and mutt
tcring and working her wrinkled jaws
lis She leercd horribly at the couple
clusped close in each others arms.
Some of her ingredients must have
been more powerful than those she
had named, for thick white smoke
poured out and spread over every
thing around. Through the mist |
could dimly distinguish the weird face
and form Of the obeah woman with
her bare. black, skinny arm out
stretched, grasping white wand
which she shook over the fire, pour
ing ont shrill cries and words of sol
einn meaning could make nothing.
And now strange thing happened.
The whole marsh seemed in motion.
The oozy soil on which | stood shook
like i mold Of jelly. The Shiny water
before me heaved as if myriads of
huge creeping things were crawling
beneath its stagnant surface. aud on
the further side Of the mound some
thing dim, vast, shapeless and horrible
with Il horrorb beyond words, rose slow
~ from the lagoon and climbed upon
she firm ground.
The yoaJao woman pointed her
wand succes lively toward the four
guards, ana each lott his post and
moved conrergiug toward the spot
whore the man and woman stood;
while the crawling horror climbed
ana climbed, and grew oven more
wondrous and vast. Then came the
sound Of a brief, desperate struggle,
fierce calculations, threats, curses,
prayers, hcart-piercing screams; then
d splashing and crunching and tearing
that seemed p rive tile very ground.
think ! E4l.t have lost conscious
ness from sheer excess Of terror, for
/ the ncxt thing ! remember ] was hold
ing on to Isaac with might and main,
and we we're both shaking as il with a
first-class arue. All was dark and
still around I'LL The light had van
ished, the swamp vas quiet, and we
heard no sound bat the tree-toads and
the distant boot Of an owl. Whithar
had vanished the terrible drama we
had witnessed and its actors? We
knew not. nor did We greatly care; all
our thought was to remove ourselves
from the scene 81 such mysterious hor-
rors.
De good Marster crboye hab mus
sy on us!' groaned Ike, as soon as he
dared speak Did cher der blessed
sun shine on stitch anoder caper! /
'clar' ter gracious. young marse, eff
eb'ry 'possum en- der woods wus ter
conglormerato roun' me dis mint m
20 down on dey bar knees, wild der
fat des er ticklin' down dey sides, fur
ter beg me ter ketch EN-, wouldn't
stay anoder mint in dis ere deblish
swamp. No, sab; der ent nummo
'possum huntin' en- Cocodri swamp fur
dis chile; not ef he neber tas' nummo
possun tell he iine dc kingdom
come.
What sca3 it, Uncle Ike9 Oh!
what c2uid that horrible thing have
bcen?''
Marse Harry, it war de debbill
Sho's we denis borned and breddcd
sinners, chile. il war de berry ole Sam
hose {! lie done mex er cla'r sweep
out yon cr, with backward sweep
Of his arm toward the swamp en-
'spects 81 'twan't ez | done bin ter bab-
tizin' er munt ergo las Sunday, Sam
I'd kerried we dem off m Cesar, too.
Babtizin's great fur sinners sho', m
brungs de sperrit out'n er cullud gem
mans bnzzum clair ez 'lasses n
water.
] was much exercised in mind as to
whether | should confide my nocturnal
adventure to any one. and so seek to
elucidate its mysteries. But Ike
begged hard for silence, we'll knowing
what would DO the consequences to
him Of carrying me off on unlawful
expeditions. though, if the truth must
be told, it was that carried him. We
finally agreed 10 keep our own counsel
and make our own inquiries. We
learned that gang of negroes, NOV
ing from North Carolina to the new
lands Of the Southwest, had camped in
our neighborhood on the memorable
night of our possum hunt They
We're in charge of white oyerseer,
who had mysteriously disappeared in
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