“Hit were des dem words dat Bithie oughter et,” said Mammy, moving closer to the fire; “she oughter bit her tongue out ’fore she let dat loose, fur she sot de cuss er-gwine, an’ flung de bid ter de debil, an’ de debil tuk hit up, an’ now hit were hoodoo ’gin debil, an’ debil ’gin hoodoo, an’ ’Liza were de bone!”
It was about the season, according to the thoughtful, that the devil was loose upon the earth for his yearly recreation, and, what with love affairs of white and black, and “misery charms” in the Quarters, he had enough on the one plantation to have kept him leisurely working for six months; but he was resolved to hasten matters, for there were other pleasures awaiting him.
All this time Unc’ Caspar was asking for ’Liza for his boy; sometimes threatening, sometimes pleading; so when the devil came and Unc’ Caspar had “gotten out of his skin” more than once to oblige him, the hoodoo made mention of the affair, and told also of the curse which Bithie believed that he had set upon ’Liza.
This made the devil look about, and when he had seen ’Liza and Unc’ Caspar pressed him for a comment, he cleared his throat and said, cautiously, “We’ll see about it.”
Just about that time, came the dance of the hoodoos at the dark of the moon, and in the flare of the torches the devil and Unc’ Caspar stood disguised, in the doorway of a cabin, and looked on; and as ’Liza led the dance, with her face distorted with ecstatic passion and swaying her body almost to the ground, Unc’ Caspar again pressed the devil for a comment; but again the devil cleared his throat, and said, “We’ll see.”
That night Unc’ Caspar dreamed a dream, and in it he saw the world split in half, and his boy Amaziah stood with him on one side and the devil and ’Liza on the other. There was a bottomless pit between, and lo! in the dream, the devil’s eyes were fixed upon him, and the flame burned into Unc’ Caspar’s sockets. Then Unc’ Caspar minded him of the graveyard sand that he wore in his pocket, and, catching it up, he threw it into the devil’s eyes, so that he was blinded and writhed with pain.
Then Unc’ Caspar, in his dream, fixed his gaze on ’Liza, and drew her with his eye; and, swinging her arms around her head three times, she stooped and reaching across the pit, plucked three white hairs from Unc’ Caspar’s beard; then, catching the long end of the beard with both hands, she swung across to the other side and laid her hand upon his arm. Amaziah looked, then howled three times, and loped away in the form of a yellow dog.
Well, said Mammy, after the dream, Unc’ Caspar talked no more of the wedding of ’Liza and Amaziah, but sat and rolled his white beard in his palm and looked at ’Liza.
And Amaziah pressed his own suit, and urged Bithie to let him marry ’Liza; but Bithie was afraid to promise on account of Unc’ Caspar’s curse and afraid not to promise, and grew so thin over thinking about it at night that Ole Miss gave her a tonic of vinegar and rusty nails.
The dark of the moon again was near, and this was the time for shadowy work; so Unc’ Caspar sat and plucked his beard, and, forgetful of his duty to his son, dreamed that he had married ’Liza. All through the day he dreamed, while the negroes were in the field, while they harrowed, ploughed, and sowed, for Unc’ Caspar was manumitted and his time was his own; and the devil, stirring the green water of the bayou, laughed aloud that Unc’ Caspar had changed his mind.