The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-03
A CASE OF YOODOO.

10 noe MS cane TOW ana e1< n1S meas
in the hours when the plantation bell
warned him to do one or the other. but
he had sense enough to know when he
was voodooed.
Hadn't he come in from the field one
day. in the dull. hot weeks in southern
louisiana, when the cane had been
laid by" TO find that "yauer city
coon." Dick. talking sweet to his wife
and eating a good dinner out OF his own
tin plate? And when he had expressed
what mind there was in him-and more
than he was thought to possess-to
Dick. didn't that scoundrel sprinkle
a hoodoo arou his house that night
to bring destruction on his whole
family: and mark a bloody circle on his
doorstep that he had TO climb cut Of
his window and pay a white man to
wash the stain away?
All things considered. the men in
Orange Grove plantation quarters felt
that Baptiste Moran was a terribly in
jured man. and as no one knew on
whom the o would next fall they
thought "YaHer Dick would be better
out of this world than in it: and con-
WINGED Baptiste that such was the case.
A voodooed man is nerved to any
deed, and in the inevitable quarrel that
followed the next evening "Yaller Dick
expiated a crime the enormity OF which
being a city bred darky-he never
knew, and it was Baptiste's razor that
lay by the gashed throat OF his victim.
In a few moments the white people
on the place learned Of the accident"
and formed a posse to scour the plan
! tation for Baptiste and watch the road
| and river escapes AT the same time
the regular dip Of oars rose and fell in
| the plantation draining canal, and the
gurgle of water falling away from the
prov of a skif made a coo sound in
the warm night. Now and then there
was a soft. rushing noise. as when the
| reds along the bank grated against the
skiff, or an alligator stirred IA Of his
lair. In the skiff's stern a black figure
crouched at the rudder; a large black
figure alternately rowed and poled the
skif down the narraw stream. Behind
them a slim, dark object foated.
From reed-grown shores they plunged
into the inky blackness Of a Louisiana
cheniere. Ancient oaks swished long
moss pendants in to the water. These
gave place to the dead silence Of the cy-
press swamp. Ones own voice in a cy-
press swamp sounds uncanny. Baptlste
trembled when his fat~her-in-law spoke.
Hits lucky TO YOU. Baptiste," he
said. that l had dis hyar skiff all per-
visioned for fishin' tonight. On'y I'm
startin' at dark std q befo' dawn.
HILL be darker yit to go home becase
de moon'll be set. I'm gwine put dis
grub in dat perogue O. yourn behine US
an set you on de shell bank O Lake
Loire. You amt never ben dis-a-ways;
hits de white folks bestes' tishin' place
TO- reddish. But I telss you now. don't
you stop 20 think O. fishin'. Hitll be
too pitch dark for you to strike dat
bayou 1 gwine set you to, arter de
moon sets; but jes as you see de "Ships
Yardarms dip to 3 o'clock, you git in
you perogue an strike crost dat lake
and lay round de ives side tell de fus'
crack O. day. Den you'll see three oak
stumps an de mouf Of a bayou back
on 'em. You Jest light down dat bayou
TO- all you's wuff, an jes keep a-goin'
long as you an yOur grub holds out.
You'll drop in on some cheniere settle
ments down yonder whar nobody aint
gwine ak yo' no questions. Dat yailer
coon'Il be clar forgot befo' we knows
hit"
They were out in the open prairie
now, floating between the long, rank
grasses.
Pm gwine make de hoodoo doctor
1 take udC spell Ol III my tdIlcI du wv
chillun, fus' ting I git home" went on
the old man, as he shot the skiff for
ward into a sheet of open water and
presently drove her against a shell
bank.
"Cyan't no hoodoo doctor come an
AXE de spell off'n me-" groaned Bap-
tiste despairingly.
"Gwine be mighty dark gettin' home"
remarked the old man. pushing of.
Snousn he Storc 'n,,ff fn' do Yard
sticks, dough, an 1 minds yo' don't
you forgit dat ef you dom what to be
cotched in de mornin'."
The moon was half below the no.
rizon, and showed a vast level Of dark
ness on every HAND The Stiffness was
profound.
Baptiste lay PROSTATE with fear and
loneliness. Perhaps he slept. Later on
hunger and a sense Of danger stirred
him to an upright position. His eyes
turned toward the "Yardsticks"; there
were no stars visible. They fell on the
lake, and then. with a yell Of terror,
he huddled in a heap.
In the level blackness OF the praries,
beneath the dark dome of the sky, the
lake lay a sheet OF vibrating fire. Fire
without flames; that rippled like warm
moonlight and burned without sound.
The negro vas almost p~araliyzed
with terror. "Oh, my Lord! My Lord!''
he mOaned. us dat man done sent hell
fire for to cotch me befo' 1 is daid! Oh,
my Lord! My Lord, sab me! Sabe
mel"
He broke into wild prayer and num-
bled all the vOodoo charms he had ever
heard, rocking himself to and fro in
an agony of fear. Whenever he looked
up to see whether the lax of fire had
been removed its weird glow shone into
his eyes and lit in his weak brain a
fire Of madness. The hours that sped
were like years in Inferno to him.. Sc
great was the torture of his mind that
h pain inflicted by hundreds of
swamp insects was unnoticed by his
body.
AT last his eyes looked out upon the
gray dawn lying over a gray level, and
the quiet water of the lake, gray too,
in the monochrome Of and and sky.
He felt dizzy with relief. Presently,
as the light grew, his eyes rested on his