"Ah, how missie do sing—how him do play on de pinano—wery extonishing fine," quoth the brown ladies' maid sotto voce, behind the open door of the anteroom, but loud enough for me to overhear.
However, allow for some few trifling peculiarities of this kind, and we had every reason to be exceedingly pleased with our entertainment; for we had a capital dinner, and some superb Madeira, and the evening passed over delightfully on the whole.
When we came to retire, I was shown to my sleeping apartment, a small room partitioned off from the end of the piazza; that is, altogether without the brick shell of the house itself.
I had proceeded in disrobing, and was about putting out the candle, when I heard a "cheep, cheep," overhead, as of a mouse in the paws of pussy. I looked up, and lo! an owl, perched on what seemed a shelf, that ran along the wall overhead, with mousey sure enough in his beak.
"Hillo," said I, "Master Owl, this will never do; you must make yourself scarce, my boy," and I seized a fishing-rod that happened to stand in the corner of the room—"there, take that, your owlship," and I made a blow at him with the but-end, but missed; however it had the effect of startling him off his perch, and with a loud squake, he took wing round the room. The first consequence of his vagary was the extinction of the light, whereby he got the weather-gage of me regularly, for although he could not see in the light, he saw beautifully in the darkness, and avoided my haphazard blows most scientifically. At length, amongst other feats of skill, and evidences of composure, I fractured the monkey, or earthen water-jar that garnished my toilet table, and finally capsized over the steps at the bedside, to the great loss of the skin on my shinbone, and the large effusion of my patience.
"Why, Jinker, Jinker!" I could hear a door open.
"Why, Jinker," said a man's voice,—"what noise is that in the piazza, in the name of wonder?"
Snore—snort—yawn. "Can't tell, massa," replied the negro domestic, who was thus roused from his lair in the piazza, "but I will go see de sound, what it is, massa."
"You will," thought I, as I heard him groping and grumbling all about—"What naise is dat?—my fader—what a knock my nose take again dat post him—mi say, what naise dat is?" quoth Quashie, more than half asleep—"Nobody hanswer? Me say de tird time, what naise, eh?"
I had gathered myself into bed the best way I could, but the owl continued his gyrations round and round the room, and here gave another screech. "Ha," said Jinker, "creech howl, massa—creech howl."