“But Tom had a deadly enemy in the person of Joliffe the overseer, a perfect brute of a fellow, with slouching gait and murderous eye. How his master retained him so long I don’t know, but he had been overseer for more than ten years, I was told. Well, he might have been useful in some ways, but he was terribly cruel. He did not dare to let his master see him with a whip in his hand, but he had a short thick one in his pocket with which he flogged the poor slaves most unmercifully.
“Once Shoe-Sally came running to me; I was playing with a little pet dog belonging to Tom:
“‘Oh! for mussy sake, come quick, sah!’ she shrieked; ‘Massa Joliffe he done whip my pooh brudder most to death.’
“I followed her quickly enough, and I never want to see again what I saw then. Joliffe had stripped the poor black boy, tied him up in the stable, and was lashing him across the face and shoulders. He had injured one eye badly, and the blood was flowing everywhere about.
“‘You cowardly savage!’ I roared.
“Ben, I have a hard fist. That wretch’s head was under my arm in a moment, and I simply punched it till I was tired, then I threw him into the stall and let him have a bucket of water over him by way of a reviver. Joliffe’s face was a sight to see for some weeks. I told my host what I had done, and the verdict was, ‘Serve Joliffe right!’
“Poor Shoe-Sally came to thank me with the tears streaming over her honest black cheeks.
“‘For what you hab done dis day,’ sobbed Sally, ‘Hebbin will bress you ebery hour in your life. And, oh, sah!’ she added, ‘Sally will die for you!’
“I shudder even now, Ben, my friend, when I think of how true, how terribly true, the latter part of this little grateful speech turned out.
“Time passed, and I felt happier far in that old Californian home than I believe I ever did anywhere before. I never once, however, met Joliffe the overseer, but he scowled a dreadful scowl at me, and I knew he was inwardly vowing deep revenge. As for the little boy, Tom, he was taken entirely out of the overseer’s charge, and became message-boy and ‘buttons’ about the house.