A chair was brought, and he seated himself without speaking, sighed heavily, folded his small nervous hands, and gazed away into the darkness; and as volley followed volley, he shuddered, and wept.
“Good God,” said he at length, “I had hoped this kind of thing was over! Jesse, what do you know about this?”
“Nothing,” was the prompt reply. “I know nothing; at least, I’ve just heard that there’s a fuss between the Militia company and the white folks. Do you know who’s in it, Mr. Payne. Who begun it, I mean?”
“I only know they say the officers would not go to court, but just fortified themselves in the armory, and defied the law, and said they were going to fight. Joe Morey says they’ve been making awful threats lately, and so the Rifle clubs were called out to sustain General Baker, who undertook to conduct the suit for Robert Baker and Gaston.”
“Defied the law? How’s that, Mr. Payne?”
“I don’t know Jesse, but that is what Joe Morey said.”
“Is that all you know about it?”
“Yes.”
“Has any body gone over from here, from the Island, I mean?”
“Yes, some on both sides, I guess.”