Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1891-11-05

"Wha-whar did yeh come fo1n, an
who is yeh?" asked the man with The
whip.
It amused me very often to hear the
vigor with which Bell proclaimed him.
self ga Yankee" meaning, of course, a
Union man. To the negro's question he
replied:
"We uns is 'scapin Yankee soldiers.
and we uns want you uns to help
Good Lori exclaimed the second
man. "If you's Yankees, whar's yer
guns?"
1--WE were prisoners and escaped from
Millen last night" replied. Then, de-
termined to leap into their good graces
at a bound, added: "Our people will
soon be along with guns, and you will
all be free. Now we are tired and hun
cry, and we want you to help US. "
The fear and doubt vanished from the
faces Of the men, and they at once ex.
pressed a willingness to do everything in
their power They told us that Millen,
ten miles to the west, was in Burke
county, and that we were now on the
Lamar place, in Scriven county, and
about eighteen miles from Sylvania, the
county seat, and "a right smart long
days drive from de Savannah ribbah,
jes' bout east" Their master ''had done
gone to de wah, but young Massa Bert
was home sick" and there were four
white ladies at the house.
Ike, the man with the whip, and eyi-
IDENTIFY the man with the head, finally
laid down this programme: There was
no danger that any white man would
come out to the Gypsum pit" as he
called the quarry, so he advised that we
spend the day there, and he promised to
send rs out provisions as soon as it could
be done with safety "We can't do
muffin else twel night" he said, ''and
twel dat time comes I'll put in some
powahful licks a-prayin. But trust in
de Lor Of Hosts. mastahs, dats de strong
est holt yous hez got now.
''An you'll send we uns some grub, -
suggested Bell, adding as an incentive,
I'm SO doggone hungry ! could eat a
mule and chase the ridah.
Ike promised to do SO; then he ar
ranged the boards on the Toulouse floor
and spread over them the blanketfrom
the cart seat. This done he shook hands
with us, and. after another invocation
to put our trust Sin de Lor of Hosts, he
drove away.
Bell and took off our boots, washed
our stockings in a pool near by and
hang them up to dry inside the hat,
with most of our clothes. The day prom
ised to be very hot and the mosquitoes
particularly active, but we closed the
door securely on the inside and lying
down on the blanket were soon fast
asleep.
There was plenty of ventilation
through the cracks, but as there was not
a breath Of air stirring outside, it was
as damp and hot inside that little tool
house as a Russian bath. But despite
the discomfort, We might have slept on
till dark, had we not been aroused by q
pounding on the door, accompanied by a
piping negro voice:
s'It's me, ole Jim, mastahsl Ike he
done tole me to come out heah wild suf-
fin TO eat.
In an instant we were on our feet
and throwing open the door we saw an
old, white headed negro, with stout
staff in one trembling hand, while the
other clutched the mouth of feed bag
slung over his shoulder. We invited
him in and shook hands with him. AS
we had had nothing to eat for twenty
four hours and our recent exercise was
well calulated to produce hunger, we
took out the contents of the bag while
the old man was regretting that the
food was not better and explaining why
ne had not come to US before.
''It amt wat we'd like to gin Yankees
an gemmen." said the ebony angel Of
mercy as Bell handed out the fried ba-
con, the golden pones of corn bread and
the sweet potatoes, like sausages distort-
ed in the roasting. In addition to these
luxuries there were two bottles Of but
termilk, with little nodules Of butter
floating through it.
Reckon, mastahs, yous right smart
hungry" said the old man, as, with won
der in his eyes, he watched us attacking
the food. He got no reply, nor was
there. need of one; our appetites spoke
for themselves.
''Peahs powahful likes eff yous didn't
done hab enough" said the man, after
we had devoured the last scrap, except
the potato skins, and drained the last
drop from the bottles. We assured him
that we had had enough, perhaps more
than was good for us, and we regretted
our inability to reward him. He replied,
with pious fervor:
II don't want noffin, mastahs, but
does pray dat de Yankees may come wild
de guns, an dat old Jim'll die free man,
an dat de chillen an de chillen's chillen
will all be free. Bress de Lori" He in
formed MS that Ike, who was his son and
the overseer on the place, had sent him
to us and told him to remain ttwel
bout an houah aftah dark when he
was to guide us to ''de quatahs.
1t was now about 4 III the afternoon,
SO that we had chance to dry our
clothes thoroughly before we put them
on.
So anxious was the old man to carry
out his orders not to move till an hour
after dark that it seemed to us to be
fully three hours before be thought it
safe to start. We travelled along a road
quite dry, considering the recent rain.
At length lights were visible ahead, and
our guide took us out of the road and
al fla+ lal 49, ~. ,,c
cabins, the lights in the upper stories a
few hundred yards away telling the
whereabouts of "de white folks house.
We were conducted into cabin and the
door was closed behind rs. AS there was
no light outside we came to stop, but a
low, frightened whispering told us that
there were others present. Hands were
reached out and we were led to {. bench;
then somebody said
"Mastahs, lze Ike, ez yous seed today
ovah by de pit We's done talked it all
ovah, an we lows it'd be mos powahful
dangous job for yous to hang roun heah.
Yous got to be movin fo' shuah. Now,
de question am. which way is yous
s-headin fo'Y'
"The Savannah river" replied Bell.
"Once can see that, I'll feel ez if | was
lookin plum into the eyes Of an old
friend. wy, 1 know every spring up
thar in the Blue Ridge, whar hit hez
hits rise"
My own hope was to strike our forces,
known to be operating at this time be-
tween Atlanta and Chattanooga, but as
the river might serve as guide without