“What yuh doin’ hyar dis time o’ night, honey chile?” she asked, peering out into the darkness. “Huccome yuh lookin’ up ole Hagar? I specs yuh in lub,” she chuckled; but when Lettice and her companion stepped into the cabin and Aunt Hagar had struck a light, she looked at the two in astonishment. “Law, chile,” she exclaimed, “yuh look lak ole rag-bag. What got yuh? Mos’ bar’ footy, an’ all yo’ clo’es tattered an’ to’n; an’ who dis?” She peered up into Mr. Baldwin’s face. “I knows him. He one o’ de Bald’in tribe. Dat a Bald’in nose. I know dat ef I see it in Jericho. What yuh doin’ wif mah young miss out in de worl’ dis time o’ night?” she asked suspiciously.
“We were at Uncle Tom’s, and were attacked by a party of Britishers on our way home,” Lettice told her.
“Some o’ dat mizzible gang from Kent Island, I reckons.”
“Yes, we suppose so. Well, we had a desperate time getting away from them. Mr. Baldwin fought—oh, how he fought!”
“And you, Miss Hopkins, how well you did your part.”
“It was life or death, and we at last did escape, but we have lost our horses, and are too footsore and bruised and scared to go farther.”
“Ole Hagar fix yuh up. I has ’intment, yuh knows I has; an’ I has yarbs; but, fo’ de Lawd, I’ll cunjur dem Britishers, ef dey is a way to do it, dat I will. Dere now, honey, let me wrop up dem po’ litty footies. Hm! Hm! dey is stone bruise, an’ dey is scratch, an’ dey is strain an’ sprain, an’ what ain’ dey? But dis cyo’ ’em. Now lemme see what young marster a-needin’. Hm! Hm! he slash an’ slit; swo’d cut on he shoulder. Huccome he fight an’ swim an’ row, I dunno, wif all dese yer slashes, an’ t’ars, an’ all dat. Yuh bofe has sholy been froo de mill. I say yuh has.” And talking all the time, the old woman managed to make her visitors really comfortable, as she ministered to them with deft, experienced fingers.
“Now, Aunt Hagar,” said Mr. Baldwin, when she had put on her last bandage, “I will leave Miss Lettice in your care, and I will go to her home and report that she is safe. They will be very anxious.”
“Oh, but you are not fit to go any farther,” Lettice protested.
“Oh, yes, I am. You do not know what a charm Aunt Hagar has put into these ointments. Your family will be in great distress of mind, and I think it would be best that I should go and reassure them.”