The Press., 1892-12-01

those rare luxuries of Ruby's menage; the third we started.
 Brent was himself again. We rode hard. Biddulph was as fine fellow as my grandmother England has mothered. | Find an Englishman vital enough to be 8 comeouter, and you have found man worthy to be the peer of an American with Yankee education, western scope and California responsibility 1 Winter chased us close. Often we woke at night and found our bivouac sheeted with cold snow-a cool sheet, | but luckily outside our warm blankets. | It was full December when the plains | left us, fell back and beached us upon the outer edge of civilization, at Inde- pendence, Missouri.
 The muddy Missouri was running | dregs. Steamboats were tired of skip ping from sandbar to sandbar. We must travel by land to St. Louis and | railroads. ..-+ We could go with our horses as fast | as the stagecoaches. So we sold ou1 pack beasts and started to continue oul gallop of three across Missouri. | Half way across we stopped one even ing at the mean best tavern in a mean town-a frowsy country town, with a dusty public square, boxy church and spittley court house.
 Fit entertainment for beast the tavern offered. We saw our horses stabled and had our supper.
 Two and half beds, one broken backed chair, washstand, decked with an ancient fringed towel, and an aban- doned toothbrush, one torn slipper and stovepipe hole furnished our bed chamber.
 We were about to cast lots for the half bed when we heard two men enter the next room. The partition was only paper pasted over lath and cut up as if a border rufian member of congress had practiced at it with bowie knife before street fight. Every word of our neigh bors came to us. They were talking of slave bargain. I eliminate their oaths, though such filtration does them injus- tice.
 Flight hundred dollars" said the first speaker, and his voice startled us as if a dead man we knew had spoken. Eight hundred-that's the top of my pile fur that boy. Elf he warn't so old and hadn't one eye poked out agree he'd be wuth heap more." .
 "Waal, trades trade. I'll take yer stump"
 'That ares wut call screechin good price fur an old one eyed nigger: Four. teen hundred dollars-an all fired price. ;
 "Eight hundred, you mean"
 "No; fourteen. You see, you're not ur ter taime on the nigger question. know 'em like a church steeple. When bought that ar boy, now comin three year, seed he wuz a sprightly nigger, one CT yer ambitious sort, what would be mighty apt to git fractious an be makin tracks onless got a holt on him. So sez l to him, Ham, you're a sprightly nig- ger, one of the raal ambitious sort, now aincher?- He allowed he warn't nothin else, 'Waal,' sez I, Ham how'd you like to buy yourself, an be free nigger, an hev house of yer own, an woman of yer own, all jess like white folksy LOT, sez he, 'Massa, I'd like it a heap 'Waal, sez 1, you jess scrabble round an raise me seven hundred dollars an I'll sell you to yerself, an cheap at that Waal, he picked up the bits and quarters right smart. He's ben at it, lammin ahead raal ambitious, for bout three year. Last Sunday after church he pinted up the last ten of the six hundred. So l al- lowed t wuz come time to sell him. He wuz gettin his head drawed an his idees sot on freedom very onhealthy. didn't like to disapp'int him to ther last, so I allowed 'twuz jest as we'll to let you hev him cheap to go down river. That's how to work them fractious runaway niggers. That ares my patent. You ken hev it for nothin. Hawl hawr'
 "Haw, haw, haw! You are one CT ther boys. I'm dunn sorry that are trick can't be did twicet on the same nigger. reckon he knows too much for that Waal, s'pose we walk round to the cala- boose fore we go to bed an see ef he's chained up all right"
 They went out.
 Biddulph spoke first.
 What are we going to do now9"
 ''Try to abolish slavery in Hams case. Come; we'll go buy him file." 4
 We bought our files and made for the calaboose. It was a stout log structure, with grated windows. At one of these, by the low moonlight, we saw negro. It was cold and late. Nobody was near. We hailed the man:
 i "Ham."
 ''That's me, massa."
 ''You are sold to go south tomorrow morning. If you want to get free, catch!''
 Brent tossed him up the files.
 ''Catch againl" said Biddulph, and up
 MT. Wm. H. Moor, BOT s. Charles St., Baltimore, Md, a Commission Merchant. recommends Salvation Oil for rheumatism and chilblaius. He writes: My wife and son have used Salvation Oil for rheuma- tism and chilblains with marked efficacy J
 gAgTION.B Beware of dealers sub- N shutting shoes without w. L. Douglas HaMe and the price stamped 9n bottom. Sucn SuD9t1tutt0n8 ar0 fraudulent and 0uDJ9C6 70 prosecution by law for Oha