Chapter 3. Arrival Of The Waggon...

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_ CHAPTER THREE. ARRIVAL OF THE WAGGON--WHY DIO RAN AWAY--HOW TO ACT FOR THE BEST-- ABOLITION OF SLAVERY--WHAT BIDDY O'TOOLE MEANT TO DO--KATHLEEN AND DIO-- BIDDY'S INTERVIEW WITH THE STRANGERS--DIO'S PURSUERS--A FORTUNATE ARRIVAL--TEACHING THE BLACK TO READ--GOOD WORDS--AN INTERRUPTED LESSON-- THE ALARM--MAN-HUNTERS--EVERY MAN'S HOUSE HIS CASTLE--WATCHING THE STRANGERS--AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE--MR. MCDERMONT--MY MOTHER'S APPREHENSIONS OF DANGER--OUR GARRISON INCREASED.

The first thing I did the next morning on getting up was to hurry out to ascertain if Mr Tidey and the negro had arrived, and was much disappointed to find that the waggon had not come back. Breakfast was over, and still it did not appear. My mother suggested that possibly the black was too weak to be removed. When I told my father of the two men we had fallen in with, in search of a runaway slave, he looked grave, remarking--

"Possibly the fellows on their return may have fallen in with the waggon, and if so, they have carried off it and its occupants."

"I don't think Mr Tidey would allow himself to be captured by only two men, or would surrender the black of whom he had taken charge," I remarked.

"He is not likely to submit himself to be made prisoner, I grant, unless he should have been wounded, but possibly he may not have felt himself called on to fight for a stranger, should the men in search of the slave be able to prove that he belongs to them or their employer," answered my father. "However, I'll set out to try to ascertain what has happened; saddle Swiftsure, Mike, while I get ready."

As I was on my way to the field in which our horses grazed, I heard Dan shout out--

"Here comes the waggon, no necessity to get the horses."

On running back to the hill on which Dan was standing, I saw the waggon coming along, driven at a quick rate by Peter, while Mr Tidey was seated with his rifle between his knees, close behind him. I could not discover a third person, and I began to fear that the negro had died or been captured by his pursuers. This was a great disappointment, and I pictured to myself the misery of the poor fellow, should he have been dragged back into slavery.

While returning by a path running alongside the hill, we lost sight of the waggon. On our arrival at the house, however, it had just reached the foot of the hill. We here found our father, mother, and Kathleen, standing at the doorway to welcome Mr Tidey, and to hear what had happened.

At that moment a person rose from the bottom of the waggon, and, leaping to the ground, came running towards us. It was the black we had discovered. For an instant he stopped and gazed in my father's face, then darting forward, he seized his hand and pressed it to his lips, exclaiming--

"Oh, massa! dis niggar Dio know you; nebber forget you, massa; you remember de poor slave niggar who pulled de little boy out of de water?"

"Remember you, my good fellow!" exclaimed my father, wringing his hand. "I have never forgotten you; you saved my boy's life, and probably my wife's too. There they both stand, though you don't perhaps remember them."

Dio gazed at my mother, then at Dan and me.

"De lady, yes! remember her," and he made an obeisance to my mother. "But de little boy him not know which," and he looked first at me then at Dan.

"That's the one," said my father, pointing to me, "he has grown considerably since then, but he has not forgotten you."

"No indeed I have not," I said, "and now I know who you are, I'm doubly thankful that we fell in with you."

"Ah, massa, dis niggar gone coon if you hadn't found him," answered Dio.

"I'm very glad that they did find you, Dio; but how did you happen to be in such a condition?" asked my father.

The negro fixed his eyes on my father's countenance--

"Massa, me tell you de tru's. Dat cruel man, Bracher, him make de poor niggar's back sore wid de lash, and den, when he find I lub one darkey girl, him beat her too and den sell her for fifty dollars, 'cos she almost dead. It almost break her heart, and her jump into de riber and drown herself. Den Dio tink if him stay him shoot Masser Bracher, so him run 'way and say him find de good cap'n, de only white man who eber say one kind word to poor Dio. Him wander in de wood, and at last, when he hab noting to eat, him sink down and tink him die. Den come de tall doctor and de young gentleman, dey put new life into dis niggar. Ah! massa, let Dio stay here, him ready to be always your slave, an' nebber, nebber want run 'way."

"Though I cannot let you be my slave, I will gladly protect you and allow you to remain here until you have sufficiently recovered to make your way northward into Canada, where alone you can be safe," said my father.

"Dis niggar wish always to be de cap'n's slave, no want to go to Canada," answered Dio.

"But, my poor fellow, if you remain here, you will be recaptured to a certainty, as your former master would find you out before long, and would place men on the watch to seize you out of doors, even though I might protect you in the house."

Still Dio entreated that even when he had recovered his strength he should not be sent away; but my father was firm in declining to make any promise both on his own account and for the sake of the black himself. It was in fact an illegal act to assist a slave in escaping, and much more to harbour one, and my father knew full well that possibly a party of Kentuckian slaveholders would come across and capture Dio. The black, although much recovered, was still somewhat weak. My father seeing this, and considering that it would be imprudent to allow him to sleep in the huts with the other negroes, ordered a small inner room to be prepared for him where he could remain in tolerable security even should any of those in search of him come our way. Peter was charged to be cautious not to mention that he had brought Dio to the house, while fortunately none of the other farm hands, (as far as we knew), had seen him arrive. Mr Tidey was fully alive to the importance of keeping the matter secret, and was as anxious as any of us to prevent the fugitive being retaken. The negro himself seemed perfectly satisfied that he was safe from capture now that he was with us.

My father's intention was, as soon as he had recovered, to supply him with a suit of clothes and some money, and to carry him off during the night northward. He was then to make his way through Indiana to Ohio, whence he could cross Lake Erie into Canada. My father was acquainted with a quaker family residing not much more than a hundred miles from us in the former state on the Wabash, and they were sure to be ready to assist him on his journey by forwarding him on to other friends who held their principles. At that time what was called "the underground railway" was not regularly established, but there were a large number of persons in the northern states, including all the members of the Society of Friends, who objected to slavery as much as my father did, and were always ready to assist fugitives running away from their cruel taskmasters. The movement in England in favour of the abolition of the slave-trade had been commenced by Wilberforce in 1787. From that time the British emancipists gained strength, and in 1792 resolutions for the abolition of the slave-trade were carried in the House of Commons. The following year, however, the House did not confirm its former vote, and though Wilberforce annually brought forward a motion, for seven years it was regularly lost until in 1799 a bill was carried limiting the traffic to a certain extent of coast. It was not, however, until 1807 that a bill for the total abolition of the British slave-trade received the royal assent. At first a penalty in money was alone inflicted on British subjects captured on board slave-ships, but in 1811 an act carried by Lord Brougham made slave-dealing felony. This being found an inadequate check, in 1824 the slave-trade was declared to be piracy and the punishment death. This was enforced until 1837, when the punishment for trading in slaves was changed to transportation for life. Other nations imitated England in prohibiting their subjects from trafficking in slaves; the United States of North America and Brazil making the traffic piracy, and punishable with death. All, with one exception, the United States, agreed to permit their ships to be searched at sea by the vessels of other nations. Unhappily, however, the profits on the trade were so enormous, that the traffic in slaves continued to be carried on from the coast of Africa to the Brazils, Cuba, and the more southern of the United States in spite of the activity of the British cruisers. Of course it will be understood that there is a wide distinction between the abolition of the slave-trade, and the abolition of slavery. Great Britain abolished slavery in her colonies in 1833, at the same time slavery existed, with all its abominations, in the more southern of the United States, as well as in the Brazils and Cuba, and on the other side of the continent. At the time of which I am speaking negroes were bought and sold and driven from one state to another. Parents were separated from their children, husbands from their wives, and if any one was daring enough to speak a word in favour of the much-suffering race, he ran the risk of having his house fired, and his plantations devastated, or of being put to death, as John Brown was in subsequent years.

My father was well aware of the danger he ran in harbouring Dio. Under ordinary circumstances he would have hazarded much to save a slave from being recaptured, but he felt himself doubly bound to preserve our negro guest, and thus repay in the most effectual manner, the debt of gratitude he owed to him for saving my mother's life and mine.

The fact of his being in the house was kept a profound secret from all the outdoor servants, and my father knew that he could trust Peter and Black Rose, who were the only persons in the family, besides ourselves, including Mr Tidey and our Irish servant Biddy O'Toole. The latter was cautioned not to speak about a negro being in the house, should any strangers come to look for him.

"Arrah! thim spalpeens w'd be mighty claver to get onything out of Biddy O'Toole," she answered, with a curl of her lips and cock of her nose, while her eyes twinkled; "sure if they force themselves into the house while the master is away, I'll bid them dare to disturb my old mither, whose troubled with a fever. If they come near the room, I'll give them a taste of the broomstick."

A couple of days had passed away, and we began to hope that Dio's pursuers had given up the search, and would not suspect where he was concealed. He was rapidly recovering under the kind treatment he received, for he had never before in his life been so well tended. Either Dan, Kathleen, or I took him in his food, and Peter slept in the same room and looked after him at night, but of course in the day-time had to attend to his usual duties. Kathleen became Dio's special favourite. I am sure from the way he spoke of her, he would have died to do her a service.

"She one angel, Massa Mike. If such as she lib in heaven, it mus' be one beautiful place," he remarked to me one day.

Kathleen would sit patiently by his bedside, and sing to him with her sweet child-voice, and then read a little or tell him a story, handing him some cooling drink when he was thirsty.

I had one day, while chopping wood, severely sprained my right wrist. My mother had bound it up and put my arm a sling, so that I could not use it, and I therefore remained at home while my father and Dan were out. The only persons in the house besides my mother, Kathleen, and myself, being Biddy and Dio. Rose had gone to assist the wife of a settler at some distance whose child was ill. I had been kept awake by the pain my wrist caused me during the night, and while attempting to read had fallen asleep, when I was aroused by the sound of the rough voices of two men at the front door demanding admittance, and abusing Biddy in no measured terms for refusing to let them in.

"It'd be mighty curious, now, if I'd be afther lettin' strangers into the house while the cap'n is away," answered Biddy, who had evidently seen them coming, and had confronted them on the threshold; "in here you don't put your feet 'till the masther comes home to give ye lave, an' unless yez keep more civil tongues in your head that'll not be likely."

"Are you the only person in the house?" asked one of the men.

"An' what if I am the only person? I am as good as a dozen such spalpeens as you!" cried Biddy in high tones.

"You've got as good as a dozen tongues in your head, you saucy jade," answered one of the men, with a laugh.

"Saucy or not saucy, you don't come in here. I'm left in charge, with the mistress busy in one room an' my ould mither, who came all the way out from Ireland when I was a slip of a girl, sick in bed in another, so I'll ax you not to spake so loudly, or you'll be afther disturbing them. Now just sit down on the bank outside 'till the cap'n comes, or mount your horses and ride away about your business."

"Come, come, Mistress Sharptongue, whether the cap'n shows himself or not, we intend to look round the house inside and out. We are hunting for a runaway nigger, and we understand that Captain Loraine has a black boy, and if he is not the one we are looking for, he's pretty sure to know where the other is. These free niggers ought to be hung up on the nearest trees wherever they are to be found; they are a pest to the country!"

"Sure is it Pater ye mane!" exclaimed Biddy in an indignant tone; "nigger though he may be, he is more honest than many a white man."

"Keep a civil tongue in your head, Misess Impudence or it may be the worse for you," said one of the men.

Biddy gave a scornful laugh.

"I'll be after t'aching you to keep a civil tongue in your head; just do as I tell you, or--"

I could suppose Biddy flourishing her broomstick. The men laughed in return, and then, hearing a scuffle, fearing that she might be ill-treated, I thought it time to make my appearance with my gun in my left hand, though it would have cost me much had it been necessary to pull the trigger. Biddy was standing at bay, defending herself bravely against the two men, who were endeavouring to force their way into the hall, where the scene I am describing took place.

Whack, whack! down came Biddy's stick on their arms, which they held up to defend their heads, when one of the fellows, who had received a harder blow than he liked, seized the stick with one hand, while with the other he drew his bowie-knife and pointed it at the girl, as if about to strike.

"Arrah! now, ye coward, would ye be afther usin' your knife on a woman?" shrieked Biddy.

Fearing that the man would not hesitate to commit some act of violence, I stepped forward, and, showing my gun, shouted, "Back, you villains, whoever you are, or take the consequences. I have overheard what you have said; the girl is doing her duty, and until my father comes back-- and I expect him every minute--into this house you do not enter."

The men, who had hitherto not seen me, observing my gun pointed at their heads, stepped back a pace or two; when Biddy, taking advantage of their eyes being withdrawn from her, struck the bowie-knife out of the hand of the man who had attacked her, crying out--

"Fire, Mr Mike, fire; an' we shall, gain the day!"

The two men, who evidently had no wish to risk their lives in the task they had undertaken, sprang back together through the doorway to avoid the expected shot, when Biddy, darting after them, slammed the door in their faces, instantly slipping the bolt, so that they could not again force it open, though they made the attempt. As she did so she uttered a shout of triumph.

"Arrah! the spalpeens will not be again trying to walk into the houses of dacent people with a cock an' bull story about hunting for a runaway slave. Just let them have a taste of your rifle, and they'll not forget the lesson we ye given them."

This she said at the top of her voice, knowing that the men outside would hear her. Whether or not they would have made another attempt to get in I cannot say, for at that moment, looking out from the window of the room at which I had been seated, I caught sight of my father, Mr Tidey, and Dan, with guns in hand, approaching the house.

I immediately cried out to them that some men had been endeavouring to force their way into the house. The brave Biddy's assailants hearing what I said, and expecting probably to have some shot sent after them, took to their heels until they reached their horses, which they had left secured to some trees, when mounting, they galloped off as hard as they could go. Biddy, the excitement over, went into hysterics, laughing and crying and shouting out--

"We've won the day! We did it well, didn't we, Master Mike?"

My father and Mr Tidey, on hearing the account I gave them, were of opinion that the men were satisfied that the black was not concealed in the house, but that Biddy had simply fought to prevent them from entering. Probably they admired her all the more for her determined conduct. Dan, keeping himself concealed, followed them for some distance, and when he came back reported that they had taken the road to Kentucky, so we hoped that we should be rid of them.

Several days passed away and Dio had recovered his strength sufficiently to get up and move about the house, though my father would not allow him to go out of doors. His delight was to attend to Kathleen and do her bidding. She, finding her power, kept him in constant employment. Young as she was, she could read remarkably well, and her great desire was to teach him to read. He probably had never before seen a book, as any person attempting to teach the blacks in the slave-states would have been thrown into prison, and very possibly hung to the nearest tree. Except ledgers and account books, probably not a volume of any description was to be found in Mr Bracher's establishment. For hours together Kathleen would occupy a high chair, with Dio seated on the ground by her side, while she taught him the alphabet or read to him some interesting tale out of one of her books. My mother felt it her duty to instruct him in the gospel, of which he was perfectly ignorant, and she took great pains to impart to him its elementary truths, which he willingly and joyfully took in.

"Dis poor niggar nebber 'fore heard Jesus Christ," he said to her one day in a low voice; "Him wond'ful good for die for black man like me who nebber do noting to please Him. Me try an' lub Him an' serve Him with all my heart to de end ob my days."

"Christ died for black men and white men alike; God wants all people of every colour, nation, and tongue to come to Him and to be saved," answered my mother. "If Dio gives God his heart, God will protect him and guide him through life until He calls him to that happy heaven He has prepared for all those who love Him here on earth."

When Dio heard that the Bible contained God's loving message to man, he became doubly anxious to learn to read it. It was wonderful the progress he made in a short time, showing that the minds of the negro race are as capable of imbibing knowledge as those of white men.

There was still a considerable risk that Dio might be recognised by some of the friends of Mr Bracher who might pass that way, and my father had determined to start with him in a few days on his projected journey northwards.

My father and I had just returned from a distant part of the estate, and were about to enter the house, when, looking along the road, I saw three horsemen, two of whom bore a striking resemblance to the men who had paid us a visit when in search of Dio.

"They may be mere travellers, or may be coming without any thought of Dio, but it will be prudent, in case of accident, to be prepared for them," observed my father; "we will go in and stow away the black."

We entered as we spoke. Kathleen had taken her usual place on a chair with a book in her hand while several others lay scattered before her. Dio was seated on the ground, his eyes level with the page from which she read, he endeavouring to repeat the words after her. Biddy was engaged at the other end of the room in making a cake, and did not observe us enter. My father, afraid of alarming the little girl, did not speak, but beckoned Dio who just then looked up, to come to him. Biddy, seeing that something was amiss, hurried out of the room after us.

"Not a moment to lose," he whispered, "run back to your room, jump into bed, and draw the clothes over your head; take care that nothing belonging to you is left in sight. Mike will carry away your shoes and anything else you have. Some suspicious persons are coming this way."

"I should not be surprised, Biddy, if they are your old friends," I observed; "you will treat them with due hospitality if they enter the house."

"Sure the cap'n won't be lettin' thim in at all at all," she said, when she observed the three men on horseback approaching, two of whom she recognised as her former opponents.

"Biddy is right," observed my father, "and our safest plan will be to keep them outside until we ascertain their business. Let your mother know, call Mr Tidey and Dan, and close the window-shutters as fast as you can."

The latter order Biddy set about zealously executing, aided by Dan and my mother, while my father and I, joined by Mr Tidey, stood at the front door to receive our unwelcome guests.

"What brings you here?" asked my father; "I should have thought after the way you behaved at your last visit that you would have been ashamed to show your faces."

"That's neither here nor there, captain," answered one of the men; "we have notice that you are hiding a runaway slave, and we have come to demand him from you; if you don't give him up, you will learn that we have the power to take him by force."

"No man shall enter my house unless I invite him," said my father calmly, "as to taking any one out of my house by force, you can only do that when you have conquered me. Whether you can conquer me or not is to be seen."

The men were somewhat taken aback by this address, and began to ride up and down in front of the house, casting doubtful glances at him and Mr Tidey.

At last they once more pulled up, and one of them exclaimed, "Come, captain, this won't do! I ask you whether or not you have a negro boy anywhere about your premises? If you have, give him up without more words. He belongs to Silas Bracher, who is not the man to allow his property to be stolen from him."

"I have stolen no man's property," answered my father, "and as to allowing strangers to come into my house, under any pretext whatever, I don't intend to do it, so you have my answer. I'll give you corn for your horses and food for yourselves, but over this threshold you don't step with my good will."

"Then you don't deny having harboured the slave we are in search of?" exclaimed one of the men. "Come, give him up, I say, or it will be the worse for you!"

"I don't acknowledge having afforded shelter to a black, and I don't deny having done so. I have a perfect right to receive any strangers into my house who come to me in distress, and if they trust to me I'll defend them with my life," said my father.

"Your life's not worth the snuff of a candle, then," answered the leader of the party, one of Mr Bracher's principal overseers.

The men, retiring to a little distance, consulted together, but seeing the muzzles of our rifles protruding from the windows, evidently considered that it would not be prudent to attempt any act of violence. After some time the overseer again rode forward. He must have felt sure that my father would not commence hostilities, or he would have kept at a distance.

"Captain, I give you warning that you are bringing down destruction on yourself and family," he shouted; "you have either helped a runaway slave to escape, or you have still got him in hiding. It would never do for us Kentuckians to let such an act pass unpunished; we should have half the slaves in the state bolting for the borders, and claiming the protection of emancipists like yourself and others." The speaker bestowed an epithet on my father which I need not repeat. "I ask you, once more, have you got the slave, and if you have, will you give him up?"

"I again answer that if I had the slave I would not give him up," replied my father in a firm tone; "if you or your master attempt to injure my family or my property, I shall defend myself as I have a right to do, and should any of you be killed, your blood will be upon your own heads."

"I call no man master, but if you mean Silas Bracher, he is not the person to change his intentions, so I shall give him your answer," replied the overseer, who, without more ado, turned his horse's head, and rejoined his companions, when the three rode away in the direction from whence they had come. Though pretty confident that the men had gone away, my father thought it prudent to keep a watch on their movements. Before they could have got to any great distance I hurried out to follow them. From a hill, a short distance to the south of the house a view could be obtained along the road they would probably take. A grove of trees, with some thick brushwood, enabled me to watch them without the risk of being discovered should they turn their heads.

I soon made them out, and saw them riding on without stopping until out of sight. Convinced that they had really gone away, I was on the point of returning when I saw two of them, as I supposed, coming back, spurring their horses over the level road. It was a question whether I could reach the house before them. I ran as fast as my legs could carry me until I got to another point whence I could take a look at them without being seen. I then saw by their dress and the colour of their horses that they were not the men I fancied, but that one of them was Uncle Denis, while the other was a stranger. I therefore ran down the hill to meet them.

"What has happened up at the farm, Mike?" asked my uncle, after we had exchanged greetings; "we met just now three of Bracher's men, who were swearing away at your father and all of you in a fashion which made me fear that they had either done some mischief, or intended doing it. I don't think they knew that we were coming here, or they would have picked a quarrel with us, for which they seemed very much disposed."

I relieved my uncle's mind by telling him that the men had only used threatening language, but I thought it prudent not to say that the fugitive slave was actually in the house, not knowing the character of the stranger who was with him. My uncle now introduced him to me as Mr McDermont, a countryman, who said he had come over to settle in the States, and who, not yet having any experience as a backwoodsman, had determined on purchasing an improved farm. "I offered him mine, but he does not wish to employ slave labour, and would prefer obtaining one in a free state. I therefore brought him here, feeling sure that your father would gladly assist him in finding the style of location he desires."

Uncle Denis and his companion were, of course, heartily welcomed at Uphill.

"I am so thankful that you have come, Denis," said my mother, who had been much alarmed at the late occurrence, "do, pray, remain and assist my husband in defending our property, for I dread lest those men should carry their threats into execution!"

Uncle Denis did his best to reassure her, saying that he did not think Mr Bracher would venture on any act of violence, but promising to stay some time at Uphill, until Mr McDermont had settled in the neighbourhood. _

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