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Show 176 UNCJ,E TOM's CABIN: OR, selves abandoned, apparently, of God, in the grasp of ruthless violence 1 How much more must it shake the faith of Christ's poor little ones, weak in knowledge and tender in years! ~1hc boat moved on,- freighted with its weight of sorrow, - up the red, muddy, turbid current, through the abrupt, tortuous windings of tho Red river; and sad eyes gar.cd wearily on the steep red-clay bunks, us they glided by in dreary sameness. At last the bout stopped at a small town, n.nd Legree, with his party, disembarked. CIIAPTER XXXII. DARK: PLA.CP'..S. " The du.rk places of the earth nrc full of the h(l.bitations of cruclt.y." TRAILING wearily behind a. rude wagon, and over a. ruder roa.d, Tom and his associates faced on ward. In the wagon was seated Simon Legree; and the two women, still fettered together, were stowed away with some baggage in the back part of it, and the whole company were seeking Legree's planta.tion, which lay n. good distance off. It wus a wild, fors..1kcn road, now winding through dreary pine barrens, where the wind whispered mournfully, a.nd now m·er log causeways, through long cypress swamps, tho doleful trees rising out of tho sljmy, spongy ground, hung with long wrCaths of funereal black moss, while over and anon the loathsome form of the moccasin snake might be seen sliding among broken stumps aml shattered bmnchcs that hy here and there, rotting in the water. I.IFE Al\fO:YG TilE LOWLY. 177 It is disconsolate enough, this riding, to the stranger, who, with well-filled pocket and well-appointed horse, threads tho lonely way on some errand of business; but wilder, dreari er, to the man enthralled, ·whom every weary step bear~ further from all that man loves and prays for. So one should have thought, that witnessed tho sunl\cn and dejected expression on those dark faces; the wistful, patient weariness with which those sad eyes rested on object after object that passed them in their sud journey. Simon rode on, however, apparently well pleased, occasionally pulling away at a flask of spirit, which he kept in his pocket. "I say, you! " he said, as he turned back and caught a glance at the· dispiritcu faces behind him! " Strike up u song, boys,- come!" The men looked at each other, and the " come" was repeated, with a. smart crack of the whip which the drircr ca.rricd in his hands. Tom began a. Methodist hymn, "Jerusn.lem, my hn.ppy home, Nnmc ever den.r to me ! When shall my SOITOWS }m.ye ll.n end, 'fhy joys when shl\11-" " Shut up, you black cuss ! " roared Legree; "did yc think I wanted any o' ycr infernal old Methodism? I soy, tunc up, now, something real rowdy,- quick ! " One of the other men struck up one of those unmeaning songs, common among the sbves. "l\bs'r scc'd me cotch n. coon, lligh boys, high! lie laughed to split,- d' yc see the moon, Ho ! ho ! 110 ! boys, ho ! Ilo! yo! hi -c! ob! '' |
