The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-06-23

want ~. 1NuSllneSS DtyOnu dGCOullt
and chaos run loose in the midst of the
nastiness. There were not a great
many of the negroes; but by way
OF making what there were understand
that they were free, Vaughan had had
their handouts and anklecuffs knocked
off, and, for convenience sake, was
putting them upon the rascalS of the
~schooner's crew. The negroes were,j
most of them, out of the hold, and
swarming all round the dirty deck,
with a central throng surrounding
Vaughan and addressing him In every
dialect and patois of a dialect, from
the Zulu click up to the Partisan of
Beledeljereed. j,
AS we came on deck, Vaughan
looked down from a hogshead, on
which he had mounted in desperation,
and said:
"For Gods love, Is there anybody
who can make these wretches under
stand something? The men gave them
rum, and that did not quiet them. 7
knocked that big fellow down twice,
and that did not soothe him. And hen
l talked Choctaw to all of them to-
gether; and I'll be hanged If they un-
derstood that as well as they under
stood the English"
Nolan said he could speak Por-
tuguese, and one or two fi~ne-looking
Kroomen were dragged out, who, as ii
had been found already, had worked
for the Portuguese on the coast at
Fernando Pc.
"Tell them they are Free" said
Vaughan; land tell them that these
rascals are to be hanged as soon as
we can get rope enough"
Nolan explained it in such Portu-
guese as the Kroomen could under
stand, and they in turn to such of the
negroes as could understand them.
Then there was such a yell of delight,
clinching of fists, leaping and dancing,
kissing of Nolan's feet, and a general
rush made to the hogshead by way of
spontaneous worship of Vaughan as
the deus ex machina of the occasion.
"Tell them,' said Vaughan, well
pleased, that 1 will take them all to
Cape Palmas."
This did not answer so well. Cape
Palmas was practically as far from
the homes of most of them as New Or
leans or Rio Janeiro was that is, they
would be eternally separated from
home there. And their interpreters, as
we could understand, instantly said,
"Ah, non Palmas," and began to pro-
pose infinite other expedients in most
voluble language. Vaughan was rath-
er disappointed at this result of his.
l~iberality, and asked Nolan eagerly
what they said. The drops stood on
poor Nolan's white forehead as he,
hushed the men down, and said:
HE says, Not Palmas.' He says
Take us home, take US to u coun
us to our own p~ickaninnies and our,
own women He says he has an old
father and mother, who will die, if
they do not see him. And this n
says he left his people all sick, and
padded down to come and help them, p,
and hat these devils caught him In.
the bay just in sight of home, and
Ludl lit has AcNcI SOSA uuyDOuJ HULL!
home since then. And this one says
choked out Nolan, that he has not
heard a word from his home in six
months, while he has been locked up
in an internal barracoon."
Vaughan always said he grew gray
himself while Nolan struggled through
this Interpretation. I, who did not un-
derstand anything of the passion in
volved in it, saw that the very ele-
ments were melting with fervent heat,
and that something vas to pay m
where. Even the negroes themselves
stopped bowling as they saw Nolan's
agony, and Vaughan's almost equal
agony of sympathy. AS quick as he
could get words, he said:
"Tell them yes, yes tell them they
shall go to the Mountains of the Moon,
if they will. If 1 sail the schooner
through the Great White Desert, they
shall go home!"
And after some fashion Nolan said
sc. And then they all fell to kissing
him again and wanted to rub his nose
with theirs.
But he could not stand it long; and
getting Vaughan to say he might go
back, he beckoned me down into our
boat. AS we lay back in the stern
sheets and the men gave way, he said
to me: "Youngster, let that show you
what it is to be without a family, with
out a home, and without a country.
And If YOU are ever TEMPTED to saw q
word or to do a thing that shall put
a bar between you and your family,
your home, and your country, pray
God in his mercy to take you that in
slant home to his own heaven. Stick
by your family, boy; forget you have
a self, while you do everything for
them. Think of your home, boy; write
and send, and talk about it. Let it
be nearer and nearer to your thought,
the farther you have to travel from it;
and rush to it, when you are free, as
49, 49,, HIooIr slave &c I1;o-