“Are you going to speak, and say what you mean?”
“Oh, golly! You go back on de cap’n dat way!”
“What cap’n? Out with it, or I’ll break your head and every bone in your body,” exclaimed Nettleton, in a state of undisguised excitement.
“Serve dis nigger as ye did de cap’n, and den put his body in de riber!”
The negro had scarcely uttered these words when Nettleton seized him. He set up a terrible howl, which brought Captain Walker to their tent.
“What is all this fuss about?” asked Walker.
The negro went on to explain as follows:
“Why, ye see, massa cap’n, I went ober to dat yar house across de riber, to see Miss Julia, a col’d gal dat used to be my sweetheart. Well, I see’d de Johnnies comin’, and I ran down to de riber to come on dis side, but dey come so close to me dat dis chile hid behind a big log. Den dey stop right by me, and say, ‘Golly, we can’t cotch nobody.’ Den I he’rd some one on de oder side ob de riber say, “Oh, Nettleton, you—”
“Silence this stuff! You have been drunk. If you speak upon this subject again, I’ll cut your black throat.”
“I’se dumb, massa cap’n.”