"You would make all the negroes cotton planters?"
"Ah'd have all the cotton crop in the hands o' the negroes, sah," the old man answered, "an' the trade schools would provide fo' all the workers in towns in the cotton district, an' in solid negro towns thar'd be room fo' all the colored doctors an' lawyers an' preachers."
"I see your idea," said Hamilton. "You would just make the cotton section solid negro. Would you try and be independent of the whites?"
"No, sah," the other answered decidedly. "It's jes' those No'thern niggehs that are talkin' that way all the time. Thar's a lot o' talk up No'th, but down hyar an' furtheh South, whar the mos' o' the colored people are, they're willin' enough to be let alone. Thar's a lot o' talk about a race war, an' it might come some time, but not likely fo' a good many hundred years, an' somethin will come up to settle it befo' then. But Ah'm reckoning sah, that yo'll be wantin' to make war unless Ah let yo' go to bed. Thar's a bell, sah, if yo' want anythin'."
"I wonder," said Hamilton half aloud, as the door closed behind his host, "if that isn't a whole lot more likely to be true than the alarmist stories you read in magazines."
The following morning, after Hamilton had almost finished covering one side of the street in collecting the census statistics, he heard the trot of horses' hoofs, and looking up, saw a tall, stern-visaged soldierly-looking gentleman, with iron-gray hair, riding a powerful iron-gray horse. Beside him rode a young fellow, evidently his son. Both reined up when they saw Hamilton. Seeing that he was expected to introduce himself, he stepped forward.
"My name is Hamilton Noble," he said; "I'm the census enumerator for this district. I presume you are Colonel Egerius?"
"Yes, Mr. Noble," the old Confederate leader replied. "Ephraim sent me word that you were here, and I received a letter a week ago from the supervisor, whom I have known for some time, telling me that you were a friend of his. I wanted to bid you welcome, sir, and to express the hope that we shall have the pleasure of seeing you at dinner with us to-night."
Hamilton bowed.
"I shall enjoy coming, Colonel Egerius," he said. "At what hour?"