Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-02-22

When day finally rolled in with stream
ing banners, Woodhaven was without
! its master, and the overseer, too much
accustomed to the eccentricitlos of that
absent power to worry over his sudden
| departure, reigned in his stead.
The path of the runaways led first di-
rectly past growth of plum bushes, an
acle in extent, that stood out in the
open field, small forest in itself.
This was the burial ground. where with
out regard to order or system the graves
of departed negroes, covered with bits
of glass, broken cups, abandoned cans
and other treasures of the trash heap,
dotted the shadowy depths. These
glimmered family in the gray half
light, and Isam shivered slightly as he
passed. The movement did not escape
the notice of the major, who smiled
grimly as he said:
You don't come this way, IsIm,
when You run off by yourself.
The sound of a human voice was rcas-
surfing. and the negro answered cheerily:
"Yessir. Ain nuthin go'n ter tech
ole Isam. All dem n dere is dun boun
en- sot. -
AHtI NIldl INC (lttlCt Is tOullu ana
sot p"
The majors inquiry betrayed impa-
thence rather than curiosity. He knew
we'll how secretive is the negro OF any
class when Intercepted in connection
with his superstitions. Isam shook his
head.
"Lor sakcs, Mass Cralfud, don you
know all bout dat
No, said the major testify if l
did wouldn't bewasting breath asking
a fool Niger.
well, said Isam, willing to COM
promise in the interest of peace, Wv en- er
sperrit gifts out II de flesh, de only way
hit can be boun en- sOt Cs ter plug cr
tree" He stepped in front of IA broken
pine near the path and examined it crit
ically. "Dere's cr plug roun hyah fur
mi 'ty nigh ev'y wun dem graves, eff
yer knows where ter look.
What do you mean by this nonsense,
Isam? Do you expect me to swallow
such stuff"
Hits cr fac. Mass Craffud. Dere,
now, dere's or plug. sho' huff.
Years Major Worthington re-
WONDERED 1t then he had come across
a split pine from which half dozen of
these plugs had fallen and was surpris-
Ell by the scare it had caused on the
plantation. They were made up of old
nails, bits of glass, red pepper and tar
and sprinkled with the blood of
chicken. Each plug contained few
hairs from the head of the deceased ana
piece of garment that had been worn
. H..
important significance, but exactly
what it was no one knew or knows to
this day. unless some aged voodoo lin
gers in the land and holds the secret
The major examined the signs point
ed ont. Only practiccd eye III broad
daylight would have been apt to discover
them. He deliberately took out his
knife and began topick at plug. The
change that came over Isam was lu-
dicrous. He clutchcd the majors arm
and chartered out:
Don, Mass CratTud, don 10 it,
honey! You mout let de mcancs' Niger
on de place glt loose en- deere ain no
teIlin wat Il happ'n. You git de
chill II few n cat'piller n bad craps,
shos yer bonn. Oh, Lordy. Lordy,
Lordy! Dcrc. now. tank de Lord"
The major had calmly persisted i'll his
efforts to extract Il plug until his knife
blade snapped. With a great pretenSe
of rage h" persisted with the broken
blado until finally, sure enough, out
fell the plug. In an instant the negro
had seized It and thrr-t it in place
again and with hisl a,.il 10 the tree was
begging 50 uitCuU>lv thu lnajt,r could not
resist.
All right. idiot" he said laughing-
ly. Lead the way. | won't trouble
it.
Isam moved off without much ado,
and the major, who was not built for
running races and climbing fences, had
as much rs he could do to keep up.
The negro wagged his head ominously
as he hurried along.
"Dcre aim no tellin hut w at dat Mig
g'r dun got loos' en- gun his curvortin
roun 70 now. One time ightnin bust
ed er tree ov'r deere. en- seben er dem
plugs drap out. En- dat summer de ty-
phoid fev'r struck scl-.n nigg rs, en- de
las one NV IN died spang dead. Ain
nev'r had dat fev'r TO CT scnCc ON de
place. But dey do say" continued |
Isam, now anxious to communicate his |
extensive knowledge of the subject,
EFF dem folks had n burn de light |
fun dat tree nuthin'd happ'n. Bet
you cant git cr niger n Baldwin
county ter burn cny mo- nv de light
nin's light nd, en- mi ty few go'n ter
rake pine straw bout dere.