The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-03-01

the answer he got was that the son OF
Ben Ali was the friend of those who
were his friends and was never angry
with them.
Well, they had their supper in there,
for / could hear them chewing, and
presently the man named Abe came to
the door and gave me mine, the big
gest half of a warm hoe cake, and /
don't know that plain bread ever tast-
ed better than it did right then.
Not long after that [ heard some
one laughing and talking in the direc-
ton Of the big house up yonder, and
the sounds seemed to get nearer. [
gave the warning, and / soon heard
the Son of Ben Ali go into the closet.
The voices came nearer, and | soon
knew one for the Young Mistress,
whom had heard talking in the woods
that very morning. The other seemed
to be the voice of child, but / heard
thump thump-fhump-a of some
one walking with a heavy cane. So /
said to myself the Master is with them.
But, no; it was the little boy, who
walked with the crutches, as / soon
saw lie was pleading with his sister
to come to the house of the man named
Abe and get him to tell tale, such as
he used to tell her when she was lit
tie girl. She said she was too large for
that. but the Little Master declared
that he was small enough for both of
them. And so they came to the door.
1.-THE Young Mistress called out
Uncle Abel and the man named Abe
opened the door. He looked out
cautiously, and with frown on his
face, as j could see; but when he found
who it was he danced around, and
opened the door as nimbly as if he
had been a young man. | try to be
polite myself, and sometimes ! shake
my tail pretty hard, but the man nam
ed Abe shook his whole body, he was
so polite, and bowed nearly to the
floor And it wasn't put on, neither,
as / found out afterward, for everyone
on the place loved the Young Mistress
and the Little Master. These two went
in and / followed them. ] wanted to
see what would happen.
after a while, in hustling around,
one of them stepped on my foot. OF
course, this hurt my feelings, and
cried out.
Poor doggie! said the Little Mas
ter. Come here. lie looked at me
closely, and exclaimed:
+" why, this is one of the Gossett
track dogs! What is he doing here?
''But the man named Abe said he
didn't know Then the Young Mistress
wondered if was one Of the dogs that
had been running after negro in the
woods that morning, and she asked
the man named Abe, looking at him
hard, If he had seen a strange negro
bring the FLY home. But the man
named Abe shook his head and fnmb-
led with the splits which he woye into
baskets.
''The Little Master said he had come
to hear a story, one of those old stories
about Brother Fox and Brother Rab-
bit. ] thought to myself that if all
the rabbits ] had caught could talk,
they would have more stories TO tell
than the Little Master had time to lis
ten to- The man named Abe shuf1ied
around and coughed and excused him
self. but it was no use. / knew he
wanted the Young Mistress and the
Little Master to go away. He was I'M
easy about the Son Of Ben Ali afraid
that they might discover the runaway.
Master but a story, and so the man
named Abe sat down and told him one.
And nothing would satisfy him but
another story, and so they went on I'M
til finally | fell asleep by the hearth.
] could hear the story telling going
on in my dreams. and / remember
said to myself that if the man named
Abe, or any other man, was as willing
to work as he was 20 talk, good many
things would be different.
while / was lying there doing, ]
heard the Son of Ben Ali begin to
snore The Little Master heard 1T, too,
for he asked what the noise was. The
man named Abe said it was the dog
meaning me-and then he went on
with his story, moving his feet about
on the floor and talking loud. | dozed
off again, and was getting ready to
go to sleep sure enough, for was
tired, when suddenly heard noise
as of two or three persons
creeping around the cabin. / jumped
up and ran to the door and smelt I'M
der it. The scent that came under the
door was the scent of strange persons,
and of white people at that. just as l
was about to cry out my discovery, l
got a Whit of another scent. | knew
at once that George Gossett was with
the strange persons, and that they were
patrolling the settlement in search of
the Son of Ben Ali.
II gave one whine and ran under the
bed, for I didn't want young Grizzly
to see me there.
"What's the matter with the dog"
asked the Young Mistress, in some
alarm.
'sh-h" said the man named Abe
softly.
"Then some one struck the door
with cane, following it with a loud
demand:
Hello, here! Open this door!'
''Peeping from under the bed, /
watched to see what would happen.
The man named Abe looked hard at
the Young Mistress. She, rising, swung
the chair behind her, leaning on it !
with her left hand. She lifted her
right arm and waved it toward the
door.
ESQpaY, 81 che said