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Show 282 UNCLB 'J.'OM1S CABIN j OR, st.onc breast-work to watch the nssailnnts, who were coming tumultuously up under the rocks. "Let 'em get us, if they can. " ' hoover comes hero has to wa.lk single file between t11osc two rocks, in fair range of your pistols, boys, d' yo sec? 11 "I do sec," said George; 1' and now, as this matter is ours, let us ta.kc aU the risk, and do al1 the fighting." "Thee's quite welcome to do the fighting, George," said Phineas, chewing some checkerberry-leaves as he spoke; ':but I may h::wc the fun of looking on, I suppose. But sec, these fellows arc kinder debating down there, :md looking up, like hens when they arc going to fly up on to the roost. Hadn't thee bettor give 'em a worcl of advice, before they come up, just to toll 'om hanclsomcly they ' II be shot if they do?'' The party beneath, now more apparent in the light of tho dawn, consisted of our old acquaintances, Tom Loker and l\Iarks, with two constables, and a posse consisting of such rowdies at tho last ta,·orn as could bo ongngcd by a little brandy to go nnd help the fun of !mpping a sot of niggcrs. "We11, 'rom, yer coons arc fin·ly treed," said one. "Yes, I sec 'em go up right here," said Tom; "n.nd here's a path. I 'm for going right up. They cn.n't jump down in a hurry, and it won't take long to ferret 'em out.." "But, Tom, they might fire at us from behind the rocks," said Marks. "Tlmt would bo ugly, you know." 0 Ugh!" said 11om, with a sneer. "Alwn.ys for saving your skin, ~larks! No danger! niggcrs arc too plnguy scared! " "I don't know why I shouldn't sa.ve my skin," said ~farks. "It's the best I 'vc got; and niggcrs do fight like the devil, sometimes." J ,IJ<'I~ Ai\10.1\'G 'rill!: LOWLY. 283 At this moment, Gom·go appeared on tho top of a rock above them, and, speaking in a calm, clear voice, said, " Gentlemen, ·who nrc you, down there, and what do you want?" "'Ve wnnt a party of runaway niggers," said ~1om Loker. " One George Ilarris, and Eliza Harris, and their son, and Jim Selden, and an old woman. 'Ve 've got the oflicers, here, and a warrant to take 'em; and we're going to have 'em, too. D'yo hour 1 An't you Go01·go Harris, that belongs to i\Ir. Harris, of Shelby county, Kentucky 1" "I am George Harris. A ~h. Ihrris, of Kentucky, dicl ca.ll me bis property. Dut now I 'm a free man, standing on God's free soil; and my wife rulll my child I cla.im as mine. Jim and his mother arc here. \Vc ha.ve arms to Uefcnd ourselves, and we mean to do it. You can como up, if you like; but the first one of you that comes within the range of our bullets is a dead man, and the next, and the next; and so on till tho last." " 0, come! come! " said a short, puffy man, stepping forward1 , and blowing his nose as he clitl so. "Young man, this :m't no kind of ta.lk at all for you. You sec, we 'rc officers of justice. 'Vc 'vc got the la.w on our side, and the power, n.nd so forth; so you 'U better give up peaceably, you sec; fbr you '11 ccrt:tinly have to gi\·c up, at last." c: I know very well that you've got the law on your side, and the power," said George, bitterly. "You mean to taka my wife to sell in Now Orleans, and put my boy like a calf in a tmder's pen, :md send Jim's old mother to the brute that whipped and abused her before, because he couldn't abuse her son. You want to send Jim and mo back to be whipped and tortured, and ground down under the heels of thorn that you call master~; and your laws u:ill bear you out in it,- |