“I say, ‘I b’lieve you, honey.’
“By dis time, de fuss outside wuz gittin’ wuss an’ wuss, an’ I could hear somep’n cracklin’ like somebody walkin’ thoo a patch er ragweed in de winter time. It look like de little candle got mo’ paler, an’ den it seem like I could see shadders dancin’ on de wall. Den I happen to look up at de window, an’, man, suh, de whole place wuz lit up.
“I say, ‘Hey! ef de sun done riz up in de night, she shinin’ mighty red.’ De smoke keep on curlin’ up an’ curlin’ up. It cum thoo de crack er de flo’.
“De Little Marster say, ‘De smoke smell so bad, I got ter put my head un’ de cover.’
“I say to myse’f, ‘Look a-here, nigger ’oman, you better be up an’ gwine, kaze when you see de smoke comin’ up thoo de floor you better watch out.’”
“I’d ’a’ gone down dem stairsteps faster’n I come up,” exclaimed Drusilla.
“Ef you had,” said Free Polly, scornfully, “you’d ’a’ never gone down any yuther steps—an’ dat would ’a’ been des like a nigger fer de worl’. I ain’t run down no steps. I des sot dar an’ sorter pat de Little Marster on de leg fer ter keep him comp’ny, an’ de smoke kep’ on comin’ wusser an’ wusser. I say to myse’f, ‘Watch out, nigger ’oman! Watch out!’
“Den I ’gun to strangle, an’ I went ter de window, an’ des ’bout dat time I hear mo’ squallin’ an’ fussin’ dan I ever been hear befo’, an’ time I got ter de window somebody smash it in, an’ I des give one big squeal an’ drapt on de flo’.
“Now, dat ar somebody wuz A’on. He clum de tree, he did, an’ smash in de window, an’ he wrop de Little Marster in de quilts an’ coverleds what he had on him, an’ toted him down de tree on one arm, an’ den he come back an’ toted me.
“When we got down, dar wuz a big crowd stannin’ ’round, an’ ol’ Marster wuz a-cryin’, an’ A’on put me down an’ went up in de crowd, an’ when he got dar he fell down like he wuz dead. When he smash in de window, de glass cut him in de arm an’ in de face an’ he wuz bloodier dan a stuck pig. So dar he wuz, an’ dar he lay. He des shet his eyes an’ fell back like he done dead.