She smiled at him and replied: "I will, because you say so," and again the shy girl, trembling in the presence of one who loved her, she shrank back and was a graceful shadow in the dusk.
"Mr. Stranger," said Jasper, "I am waitin' fur you ter untie that po' old nigger."
"Thank you, Mr. Stranger," said the North Carolina man, "and I will when we git through with him. He wanted to kill my dog so as he could steal suthin', and a thief ought to be punished. That's a law I take with me wharever I go."
"Good law," Jasper replied. "And thar's a law that's allus in force whar I live and it's this here: when a thief is accused there must be some proof befo' he is punished."
Jim spoke for the first time. He had stood with folded arms, and sometimes his lips moved as if he were muttering a prayer. And now his voice was as solemn as a benediction: "The poor Ethiopian was lead down into the waters of forgiveness and baptized. In the sight of the Savior the color of his skin had not made him a sinner. About the weak and the wretched the gospel threw its protecting arm, and to-night it is here to do the same. I represent the gospel, and as the gospel, I ask you to liberate that man."
"Hah, preacher," replied Sanderson. "And what if I don't pay no attention to the gospel?"
And Jim's voice was deep and solemn when he answered: "Then Jim Starbuck, the man, will mash your head and throw you out into the road where your dog is lying."
Old Jasper slapped himself and laughed, but there were tears in his eyes. "Thar won't be no necessity for that, Jim. You know my appetite ain't been right good lately—I've needed exercise, and the sort of exercise I need, this here man is goin' to help me to take. Mister, once mo' I ask you to untie that po' nigger, and then we will git at the evidence. You hearn what the preacher said, and—"
Through the bushes a man came stalking. He was rugged and brusque, but he bowed to the women and offered to shake hands with the men; but Jasper inquired as to his business upon the scene, and put him back upon formality until this point should be settled.
"Why, it's jest this," said he, looking round at the negro. "I was a drivin' down the hill jest now, and a drivin' peart, when out run a dog and bit at my hosses' feet. One of the hosses knocked him down and befo' he could git up the wheel run over him. It made me mad, come a bitin' at my hosses, an' I driv on, but I got to thinkin' that somebody mout be accused of killin' him, so I come back, an' shore enough here you'd got a nigger tied up. The killin' was a accident."