'But you do just as badly, Joe,' I replied. 'You let these darkies waste more than they eat, and you keep four here to do the work of three. You are no better than your master.'
'Only half so good, Mr. Kirke,' rejoined the black, showing a set of teeth which a dentist might have used for a door plate; 'only half so good, 'case I'se only half white. But, if master Robert 'ould leff me handle de whip, I'd show him suffin'! I reckon de int'rest 'ouldn't be ahind den.'
'Why? don't you let Joe whip the negroes?' I asked Preston.
'No, not now; I did, till some years ago, when he almost killed one of them, and came near getting me into serious trouble. He could manage them well enough without whipping, if he'd curb his impetuous temper a little.'
'But I does curb it, master Robert, and it tain't ob no use. Dey knows I can't whip 'em, an' dey don't keer fur de starvin', or de tyin' up, or de talkin' to in de meetin'. Dey don't mind fur nuffin' but de whip, an' a little ex'cise wid dat does a nigger good when he'm right down 'fractory. And you has 'lowed, master Robert, dat I warn't so much ter blame in dat 'fair ob Black Cale.'
'Well, perhaps you weren't. It's a good story, Kirke; did I ever tell it to you?'
'No; I'd be glad to hear it.'
'Come, Joe,' said his master, good-naturedly, 'you can tell it better than I. You know it by heart.'
'Well, master, if you says so,' replied Joe; and as we seated ourselves in a semicircle on some rosin barrels, the black proceeded to give the following illustration of the working of free and slave institutions:
'Well, you see, Mr. Kirke, de darky's name wus Black Cale, an' he wus a raised up 'long wid me by de ole gemman—dat am master Robert's gran'fer. He wus allers a hard-bitted, 'fractory darky, but he wus smart, awful smart, and could do a heap ob work when a minded to; but he wusn't a minded to bery of'en, an' ole master used to hab ter flog him—flog him bery hard. Well, finarly, de ole gemman grow'd tired ob doin' so much ob dat, an' he call Cale ter him one day, an' he say: