‘Fourteen—thank you, sir, thank you! Fourteen hundred dollars! Fourteen hundred! Fourteen—— Gentlemen, bid more, if you please! Fourteen hundred dollars for Harvey are nothing. Fourteen——’
‘And fifty.’
‘Fourteen hundred and fifty dollars for a boy who is worth two thousand! Gentlemen, here is a good chance to improve property! Whoever will buy Harvey, shall own a fortune. Who is going to bid more? Fourteen—fourteen hundred and fifty dollars—going? One thousand four hundred and fifty dollars—dollars—dollars! Who will bid more? Nobody? Nobody more? Fourteen hundred and fifty dollars for the negro boy Harvey, the best field hand and the most gentle boy amongst all the darkeys in the United States! Going—for the first—second—who will say more? Fourteen hundred and fifty dollars—going—going—going—gone!’
‘Go off, Harvey! Hurry yourself! Don’t believe your bones are made of sugar and eggs.’
No. 2. Joseph, field hand, aged about seventeen.
‘Gentlemen, there is a young blood, and a capital one! He is a great boy, a hand for almost every thing. Besides, he is the best dancer in the whole lot, and he knows also how to pray—oh! so beautifully, you would believe he was made to be a minister! How much will you bid for him?’
‘One thousand dollars.’
‘Good—but that is not half the price he is really worth. Gentlemen, if you will bid two thousand at once, it may not suffice to buy him. One thousand dollars for a boy, who will be worth in three years fully twenty-five hundred dollars cash down. Who is going to bid two thousand?’
‘Twelve hundred dollars.’
‘Twelve hundred dollars! Sir, I did say, he would soon bring two thousand. I am always pretty near certain of what I say. Twelve hundred for Joseph! Splendid fellow that! Eleven hundred and eighty dollars more than for his namesake of old in the land of Egypt. Twelve hundred dollars! Gentlemen, bid more!’