“What did he say to you?” thundered Stoneman.
“He say—he say—ef I walk ’longside er him—he knock hell outen me, sah!”
“Indeed.”
“Yessah, en I ‘spec’ he would,” said Aleck insinuatingly. “La, he’s a gemman, sah, he is! He tell me he come right on. He be here sho’.”
Stoneman whispered to Lynch, turned with a look of contempt to Aleck, and said:
“Mr. Sheriff, you interest me. Will you be kind enough to explain to this court what has happened to you lately to so miraculously change your manners?”
Aleck glanced around the room nervously.
“I seed sumfin’—a vision, sah!”
“A vision? Are you given to visions?”
“Na-sah. Dis yere wuz er sho’ ’nuff vision! I wuz er feelin’ bad all day yistiddy. Soon in de mawnin’, ez I wuz gwine ’long de road, I see a big black bird er settin’ on de fence. He flop his wings, look right at me en say, ‘Corpse! Corpse! Corpse!’”—Aleck’s voice dropped to a whisper—“’en las’ night de Ku Kluxes come ter see me, sah!”