Bertie took up a short plank in the barn floor, crawled under and crawled about; he drove one hen that was sitting from her nest; found several nests with eggs in them, and was searching for others, when he heard the sound of voices outside, and recognized that of James. Looking through a hole in the rocks he saw Daniel Blaisdell, Mr. Wood’s redemptioner, in earnest and even passionate dispute with James. Prompted by curiosity, he crept near enough to hear the conversation, the nature of which made him an eager listener.
Bertie inferred from what he heard, that they had been talking some time; that Blaisdell wanted to leave his employer by stealth, as he could obtain plenty of work at good wages, for the next six or eight months, whereas, at his present place, he should get only his board and clothes, and “very mean board and beggar’s rags at that,” and wanted James to go with him, which it seemed the former had bluntly refused to do, as in reply to some remark of James, that Bertie was not then near enough to hear, Blaisdell said,—
“If you are fool enough to work for nothing, when you can get high wages by going after them, I am not.”
“Do you think I have no more principle, or good feeling, than to leave a man who has treated me better than many of the people in England, I have worked for, treat their own children; and that, too, just when he wants me the most; who has put me in the way of learning to read, write, and cipher, which of itself, is worth more to me, than four years’ labor at the highest wages?”
“He had selfish ends in it, because he thought it would pay in the long run. It didn’t cost him much to send you to school in the winter, when there was not much to do; and he knew it would make you smart, and contented to work for nothing, four years.”
“You agreed, Mr. Blaisdell, before you left England, if Mr. Wood would pay your passage, to work on his farm three years; you have only worked about eight months, and you want to leave him, without his knowledge, and at the busiest time of year. Do you consider that right, Mr. Blaisdell?”
“Do I consider it right? To be sure I do. He knew what labor was worth over here; I didn’t. He knew, too, that I, and hundreds like me, were starving on the other side, and took advantage of our necessity to get his work done for nothing. He has tried to get ahead of me all he could, but he got hold of the wrong man. I don’t say but it would have been different had he fed me well, clothed me decently, and showed some consideration; but he has taken all the advantage he could of my necessity, and now I’ll take all I can of his. There’s no law in this country against begging, and no hanging for stealing. I’ll leave him, and you had better go with me. Come on.”
Bertie was so anxious to hear the answer James would make, that in his efforts to get nearer, he displaced a stone of the wall that fell outward, but the parties were too much occupied to notice it. The opening, however, permitted a glance at the features of James, and Bertie could perceive that he was both excited and irritated. At length he said,—
“I have nothing to complain of; but every thing to be thankful for. I shall stay with Mr. Whitman the four years, and do all that I can; and if after that, he should be taken sick, and become poor, and need my help, I’ll stay with him, and try to do by him, as he has done by me.”
“Then you must be a fool. They all said on board ship coming over, that you was a fool, and didn’t know enough to take care of yourself, and now I believe it. It cost Whitman about forty dollars to get you over here, and you are going to work four years for him for that. It wouldn’t be four coppers a day, while you can get a dollar a day now, and nine shillings in harvest. As for your board, he won’t miss that, nor your clothes, for they will all be made in the house.”