“Them niggers, Mr. Vance, air under my car’, an’ I’m takin’ ’em to Texas fur Kunnle Barnwell. The feller yer see han’cuffed thar an’ sleepin’, run away three or four yars ago. At last the Kunnle heerd, through Hermin & Co., that Peek (that’s his name) was in New York; an’ so the Kunnle gits me ter go on fur him; an’ cuss me ef I didn’t ketch him easy. The other three niggers air a lot the Kunnle’s agent in St. Louis bowt fur him last week.”
“How did you dodge the Abolitionists in New York?” inquired Vance. “You went before the United States Commissioner, I suppose, and proved your claim to the article.”
“Damned ef I did! Arter I’d kotched Peek, he said, ef as how I’d let him go home, an’ settle up, he’d return, so help him Gawd, an’ give hisself up without no fuss or trial. Wall, I’m a judge of niggers,—kn see right through ’em,—kn ollerz tell whan a nigger’s lying. I seed Peek was in airnest, and so I let him go; and may I be shot but he cum back jest at the hour he said he would.”
“Very extraordinary!” said Vance, musingly. “You must be a great judge of character, Colonel Hyde.”
“Wall, what’s extrordinerer still,” continued the Colonel, “is this: Peek wanted money ter send ter his wife, and cuss me ef he didn’t offer ter go the hull way ter Cincinnati without no officers ter guard him, ef I’d give him twenty-five dollars. In coorse I done it, seein’ as how I saved fifty dollars by the operation. The minute he got on board this ’ere boat I hahd him han’cuffed, fur I knowed his promise wahn’t good no longer, anyhow.”
“Colonel, what’s your address?” asked Mr. Vance. “If ever I lose a nigger, you’re the man I must send for to help me find him.”
The Colonel drew forth from his vest pocket a dirty card, and presented it to Mr. Vance. It contained these words: “Colonel Delancy Hyde, Agent for the Recovery of Escaped Slaves. Address him, care of J. Breckenridge, St. Louis; Hermin & Co., New Orleans.”
“Shall be proud to do yer business, Mr. Vance,” said the Colonel.
“I must have a talk with that handcuffed fellow of yours by and by,” remarked Vance.
“Do!” returned the Colonel. “Yer’ll find him a right knowin’ nigger. He kn read an’ write, an’ that air’s more ’n we kn say of some white folks in our part of the kintry.”