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Show 178 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN: OR, have one,- he did," she repeated over and over, in heart-broken tones. n Trust in tho Lord, Aunt Hagar," s::tid the oldest of tho men, sorrowfully. "'Vhat good wiU it do 1" said she, sobbing passionately. (l !liothcr, mother,- don't! don't!" sa.id tho boy. a ~1hcy say you 'a got a good master." "I don't care,- I don't care. 0 , Albert! oh, my boy! you 's my last baby. Lord, how ken I? " "Come, take her off, can't some of ye?" said Haley, dryly; " don't do no good for her to go on that ar way." The old men of the company, partly by persuasion and parUy by force, loosed the poor creature's last despairing bold, and, as they led her off to her new master's wagon, strove to comfort her. "Now! " said Haley, pushing his three purchases together, and producing a bundle of handcuffs, which he proceeded to put on their wrists; and fastening cn.ch handcuff to a long chain, he drove them before him to the jail. A few days saw Haley, with his possessions, safely deposited on one of the Ohio boats. It was the commencement of his gang, to be augmented, as tho boat moved on, by various other merchandise of tho same kind, which he, or his agent, had stored for him in various points along shore. The La Belle Riviere, as brave and boautiful a boat as ever walked the waters of her na.mcsakc river, was floating gayly down the stream, under a brilliant sky, the stripes and stars of free America waving and fluttering over head; the guards crowded with well-dressed ladies and gentlemen walking and enjoying the delightful day. All was full of life, buoyant and rejoicing;- all but Haley's gang, who were stored, with other freight, on tho lower deck, and who, somehow, did not LIFE AMONG THE LOWL'f. 179 seem to appreciate their various privileges, as they sat in a knot, talking to each other in low tones. u Boys,"~ said Haley, corning up, briskly, "I hope you keep up good heart, and arc cheerful. Now, no sulks, yo sec; keep stilT upper lip, boys; do well by me, and I 'II do well by you." The boys addressed responded the invariable " Yes, :hias'r," for ages tho watchword of poor Africa; but it's to be owned they did not look particularly cheerful; they had their various little prejudices in favor of wives, mothers, sisters, and children, seen for tho last time,- and though '' they that wasted them required of them mirth," it was not instantly forthcoming. "I've got a wife/' spoke out the article enumerated ns "John, aged thirty," and he laid his chained hand on Tom's knee,-'' and she don:t know a word about this, poor girl!'' '' 'Vherc docs she li vc? '' said Tom. ''In a tavern a piece down here,'' said John; ''I wish, now, I could sec her once more in this world," he added. Poor John! It was rather natural; and tho tears that fell, as he spake, came as naturally as if he had been a white man. Tom drew a long breath from a sore heart, and tried, in his poor way, to comfort him. And over hc:1d, in the cabin, sat fitthers and mothers, husbands and wives; and merry, dancing children moved l'Ouml among them, like so many little butterflies, and everything was going on quite easy ond comfortable. "0, mamma," eaicl u. boy, who had just come up from below, "there 's a negro trader on board, and he 's brought four or five slaves down there." "Poor creatures! " said tho mother, in a tone between grief and indignation. |