OCR Text |
Show 246 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN : OR1 "A while ago he was n11 down in tho mouth, and now he's peart as a cricket." "Dunno, Mas'r i gwine to run off, rncbbc." "Like to sec him try thnt," said Legree, with a sal'age grin, "would n't we, Sambo? " "Guess we would ! Haw! haw! ho!" srud the sooty gnome, laughing obsequiously. "Lord, de fun ! ~ro sec him stickin' in de mud,- chasin' and tarin' through de bushes, dogs a holdin' on to him! Lord, I laughed fit to split, dat ar timo we cotched Molly. I thought they'd a had her all stripped up afore I could get 'em off. She car's de marks o' dat ar spree yet/' "I reckon she will, to her grave," said Legree. "But now, Sambo, you look sharp. If the nigger's got anything of this sort going, trip him up.'' " Mas'r, let me lone for dat," said Sambo. " I '11 tree do coon. ITo, ho, ho ! '' This was spoken as Legree was getting on to his horse, to go to tho neighboring town. That night, as he was returning, he thought ho would turn his horse and ride round the quarters, and sec if all was safe. It was a superb moonlight night, and the shadows of the graceful Chino trees lay minutely pencilled on the turf below, and there was that transparent stillness in the air which it seems almost unholy to disturb. Legree was at a little distance from the quarters, when he heard the voice of some one singing. It was not a usual sound there, and he paused to listen. A musical tenor voice sang, "When I can read my title clenr To mansions in the skies, I '11 bid farewell to every fenr, And wipe my weeping eyes. • LIFE AMONG 'filE LOWLY. " Should earth ngniost my soul engage, And hcll.ish darts be hurled, 1'hen I can smilo at Satan's rnge, And face a frowning world. " Let cares liko a wild deluge come, And storms of sorrow fall, May I but safely reach my home, My God, my HeBYcn, my All." 247 "So ho!" said Legree to himself, "he thinks so, does he 1 How I hate those cursctl Methodist hymns ! Here, you nigger," said he, coming suddenly out upon Tom, and raising his riding-whjp, "how Uaro you be gcttiu' up this ycr row, when you ought to be in betl1 Shut yer old black gash, and get along in with you ! " "Yes, 1\fus'r," said ~rom, with ready cheerfulness, as he rose to go in. Legree was provoked beyond measure by Tom's evident happiness ; and, riding up to him, belabored him over his heli.d and shoulders. "There, you dog/' he sa.id, "sec if you 'II feel so comfortable, after that!'' But the blows fell now only on the outer mon, and not, as before, on the heart. ~rom stood perfectly submissive; and yet Legree could not hide from himself thot his power over his bond thra.U was somehow gone. And, ns Tom disappeared in his cnbin, and he wheeled his horse suddenly round, there passed through his mind one of those vivid flashes that often send the lightning of conscience across the dark and wicked soul. He understood full well that it was Gon who was standing between him and his victim, and he blasphemed him. That submissive and silent man, whom taunts, nor threats, nor stripes, nor cruelties, could disturb, |