, 1889-01-24

o you Jest fetch me some vlttleS
from old miss table, nnd you come go
1ong'r old Gran. Don't go TO de
kitchen for dat ~vittles, for dat Niger
oman what's dom dat cooking, aldo
she's been bon and raised on dis plan
~tation, and many's dc bucket o. water
she's toted on her head TO de cotton
choppers when old Gran was carryin'
de lead row 'mong de hands, she's
done got so quality case she's cookin'
for de white folks she don't notice a
plantation Niger, and she gwine to
give you scraps shores you born il
you go dar. L knows her case / done
tried her"
Gran always got his supper, so did
Ring, and we were soon off on the
hunt. Gran was always the autocrat
of the occasion and the muster Of cere-
monies, selected his own crowd and
always picked four good axmen to as
sist in cutting down the tree. Each
negro carried his only weapon, his AK.
One carried n lighted torch and ma
terial for more, and as We went down
through the turn row in the field to
get TO the swamps on the back of the
plantation, Ring followed behind us,
as unconcerned as if he intended to
take no part in the hunt. But when
he climbed the back fence on the back
side of the plantation and Gran gave
his familiar war whoop;
"Whar you, Ring1 Hark TO 'em,
pupPyT
Ring was gone in a moment and the
hunt began, and whether Gran in
stinctively followed Ring, or Ring in
st~inctively hunted before Gran, /
could never tell, nor could he; but
Nla,w - ,an 80 lrnvN -
of n other. No particular course
lost rs soo rs ] got in the woods, and
remained so until we got back TO the
clearing. But old Gran would hunt
and ramble for hours and hours, and
when the hunt was over and we
started back he would strike a bee line
for the Quarters" and was mover
known TO miss his course. Every few
minutes during the hunt, and until
Ring started on n hot trail, he gave an
occasional yelp, TO which old Gran
would respond: Speak to me, Ringl'
And in n voice you could hear for a
milo and which rang out in the night
n clear rs a bugle note and echoed far
and nea through tho tall trees and
gloomy brakes OF the dark woods.
The glare of our orchlightdisturbed
many a little bird which had nested
for the night in some scrubby bush,
and as it fitted away TO find another
hiding place it would give its chirrup
of warning TO its companions hard by.
The solemn old owl from her perch in
the tall tree top hooted at her neigh
Dor across the lake:
Icooks for my folks,
Who cooks for you air
Than yvp,1l In I,aa.l H. .,,azl
startled duck aroused from its quiet
repose on tho silent waters of some
bush hidden bayou, and occasionally
a frightened deer would dash through
tho tangled thickets, nor stop to sec
who were the midnight providers upon
his hidden lair. So tho hunt con
tinucd-Gran in the lead, barefooted
and mashingdown the vines and brush
like n great bear, the rest of us follow
ing rs best We could, until Ring struck
a hot trail, and then his yelp changed
to fierce banks.
All then was excitement and we
crowded to follow Rings voice, but
long before we could overtake him
his prolonged howls far ahead of us
told us the 'possum was freed. Rings
veracity was never questioned, for we
knew nothing could deceive him but
chants" and he would not run
''hants." Our torch man flashed his
light up the body of the tree, to SEQ
tho way 1t would fall, that it should
not fall across 'de kerr in," and o
the measured strokes Of the four AK
men rang out in the still night. Ring
squatted close by, just out of the reach
of the axes, and an occasional whine
told of his impotence, and so the
work progressed until the loud crack
gave the signal that the tree was Civ
ing away. Tho two choppers on the
lower side then ceased their work and
the two on the upper continued. Gran
and Ring took their stand side by side,
both gazing upward at the long, naked
branches until their gradual sway told
that its last struggle was over. No ex-
citement SO intense and as far beyond
description was ever experienced by
mo as that produced by the loud crash
and dull thud echoing through the
woods when that monarch of the forest
met its mother earth. Gran and Ring
had both disappeared, both making for
the tree top and both rushing to de-
struction, rs it appeared TO me, right
under tho falling branches, and why
both of them We're not crushed to death
l could nev tell. But they always
came out unframed and seldom with
out the 'possum. A large brush fire
had been kindled in the meantime by
he torch man, and we all dropped
down around it on the dry leaves to
rest
Then began n genuine negro pow
WOW, the like of which has forever
passed to the things that were. Free
and unbridled before me, q boy, who
had been raised among them, and
who, as they well knew, would take
sides with them on all occasions, in
every trouble. Overseers, track dogs,
''patter rollers" poor white folks,
always came in for their full share Of
abuse. Ghost stories of the most mar
Vicious and startling nature were told
about sights seen and noises heard
around the old gin house; how on
dark, stormy nights, just at ~ o'clock,
Bob Kings ghost an overseer who
had been accidentally killed on the
plantation long years before, would
ride up to the gin house scaffold and
call out the weight of the cotton