Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1893-12-15
CHAPTER Xxx.
A CLEAN OF HOPE


my collar till we were out of sight OF
the house, among the cane. | think
that held back little.
"Come along" he said brusquely.
'I'm as much stirred up as you are
about it; but I've got my senses, and
you've lost yours. You want to do
something desperate and foolish"
''Let me go!' l cried. ''Ill kill him"
'Come along, say, you young idiot
: What good would it do to kill him?
That would only make things worse
for you and the girl. You want to help
her, don't you?"
''I'll die before / leave her here In
that mans power! l would"
Eyes, know how you feel. I've got
some feeling myself on the subject.
I've got plan, too; but | tell you
fatty, Dorr Jewett, if you don't come
along with me and quit your crazy no.
tion of taking the girl out of the house
by force, with those roughs standing
between, I'll go my own way, and leave
you to your destruction"
His words calmed me; l ceased to
resist, and followed him as be strode
through the cane. His hopeful words,
his strong confidence in himself put
new life into me; leaned on him as
upon human providence.
He never stopped till he reached the
edge of the great swamp, more than
quarter Of mile back of the house.
1t was overgrown with scrub oak and
cypress; festoons of Spanish moss,
ivy, and other parasites ran from tree
to tree; where the heat had dried the
edges of the swamp for many rods,
thick growth of palm bushes had
sprung up. A serpent wriggled in at
our approach, and a cloud of ravenous
mosquitoes gave US warm greeting.
'We shan't be overheard here" said
my companion. "I'll make smoke to
save us from being devoured alive"
He lit cigar and consumed it with
short, emphatic puffs- l watched his
face anxiously, and saw that his square
under-jaw was set, and that he was
thinking hard. Suddenly he put the
question to me:
"What do you think of me, anyway,
Dorr Jewett?"
A little disconnected by the abrupt
ness of the question, / presently an
swered, and told him the exact truth:
"When / first came here, i thought
you were rough and cruel to the
negroes. Afterward / found out that
you were more rough than cruel; and
still later, I have known you for a
good friend"
Eyes; that's pretty near the truth.
Before tell you my plan, want you
to know enough about me to under
stand that l am not coming to your
help blindfolded. / know the risk, and
I'll face it; and you must know it.
told you / was born in Pennsylvania.
Ten years and more, I've been in
Louisiana. l came down here with a
head full of the horrors of slavery, as it
had been pictured to me. / suppose
the real thing strikes different people
from the north in different ways;
some might have seen all that I've
seen, and be confirmed in their notions
of the institution. / haven't been.
Contact with the negro in this state,
where there are as many of him as
there is of the white man, has made me
believe that condition of slavery is q
good thing, the only thing for him."
DuJ OOTdAC-
Hold on; I'm coming to her. Such
has been my opinion. In a single day
! am brought face to face with the ug-
liest aspect of the whole problem. I've
heard of such things as this / never
knew any such personally. l have
supposed that the facts must be dis
torted and exaggerated. Now, there is
no mistake. We kno,o what has hap
pened on this plantation. l won't
sicken you by reminding you of what
may happen. You'd say, would say,
almost every planter in the La Fourche
would agree, that the treatment which.
that beautiful uhite girl tell you it.
just as it isis likely to receive at the
hands of her own kin, her half-broth-
er, just as you heard him threaten it
is more than brutal Sir, it is damna-
ble!"
He stamped his foot in his excite
ment.
"And the law would permit it?'
"The law would ask just one ques-
ton: Was her mother a slave? We
know what the answer would be in
this case. Nothing else would be re-
garded."
"Must we submit to such a mon
strous condition of law?" cried.
He looked fixedly at me.
Boy you've got spirit; yep aeed t9