"You're mighty nigh too late for supper, said grandma West, as they stopped at the side gate. Adelaide hurried to her father who took her in his arms as he saw how she trembled.
"My child!" he said.
Yes, child she was as she relaxed from the tension of the last hour and related the experience of the evening.
"I cannot express our gratitude to you, Sir," said Mr. West: "I am glad you landed the devils in jail."
"I am only thankful I was there when it happened," replied Percy. "I am sure no man could have done less. I have promised to return to town in the morning to serve as legal witness in the case. I hope your daughter need not be called upon for that."
"Probably that will not be necessary," Mr. West replied.
CHAPTER X
THE SLAVE AND THE FREEDMAN
THE others had retired but Percy and his host continued their conversation far into the night.
"There are almost as great variations among the negroes as among white people," Mr. West was saying. "To a man like Wilkes who was born and raised here on the farm, I would entrust the protection of my wife and children as readily as to any white man. He has been educated, so to speak, to a sense of duty and honor; and negroes of his class have almost never been known to violate a trust. Of course there are bad niggers, but as a rule such negroes have grown up under conditions that would develop the evil in any race of men.