“When did he get here?”
“Dis mawnin’. He been pesterin’ her an’ pleadin’ wid her all day an’ she been cryin’ her heart out, but Mammy say she’s gwine wid him. ‘Pears like she can’t he’p herse’f.”
“Is he alone?”
“No, suh, he got an orficer an’ four sojers wid him.”
“How did they get away?”
“He say as how dey was on a scoutin’ party an’ ‘scaped.”
“Does he know that Cornwallis has surrendered?”
“Oh, yassuh, he tol’ Miss Barbary dat. Dat’s why he says he got to git away right now an’ she got to go wid him right now.”
“Did he say anything about General Dale and Mr. Harry?”
“Yassuh, he say dat dey’s all right an’ dat dey an’ you will be hot on his tracks. Dat’s why Mammy tol’ me to ride like de debbil an’ hurry you on, suh.” And Ephraim had ridden like the devil, for his horse was lathered with foam and both were riding that way now, for the negro was no mean horseman and the horse he had saved was a thoroughbred.