By Sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XII: A NEGRO'S STORY

  On arriving at a large village one day, they were struck as theyapproached by the far greater appearance of comfort and neatness thangenerally distinguish African villages. The plots of plantations wereneatly fenced, the street was clean and well kept. As they entered thevillage they were met by the principal people, headed by an old whitehaired negro.

  "Me berry glad to see you, white men," he said. "Long time me no seewhite men."

  "And it is a long time," said Mr. Goodenough, shaking hands with him,"since I have heard the sound of my own tongue outside my party."

  "Me berry glad to see you," repeated the negro. "Me chief of disvillage. Make you berry comfortable, sar. Great honor for dis villagedat you come here. Plenty eberyting for you, fowl, and eggs, andplantain, and sometime a sheep."

  "We have, indeed, fallen into the lap of luxury," Mr. Goodenough saidto Frank; and they followed the negro to his hut. "I suppose the old manhas been employed in one of the factories upon the coast."

  The interior of the hut was comfortably furnished and very clean. A sortof divan covered with neatly woven mats extended round three sides. Inthe center was an attempt at a table. A doubled barreled gun and a riflehung over the hearth. A small looking glass and several colored printsin cheap frames were suspended from the walls. A great chest stood atone end of the room, while on a shelf were a number of plates and dishesof English manufacture.

  The negro begged his guests to be seated, and presently a girl entered,bringing in a large calabash full of water for them to wash their handsand faces. In the meantime the old negro had gone to his chest, and,to the immense surprise of the travelers, brought out a snow whitetablecloth, which he proceeded to lay on the table, and then to placeknives, forks, and plates upon it.

  "You must 'scuse deficiencies, sar," he said. "We berry long way fromcoast, and dese stupid niggers dey break tings most ebery day."

  "Don't talk about deficiencies," Mr. Goodenough answered smiling. "Allthis is, indeed, astonishing to us here."

  "You berry good to say dat, sar, but dis chile know how tings ought tobe done. Me libed in good Melican family. He know berry well how tingsought to be done."

  "Ah, you have traveled a good deal!" Mr. Goodenough said.

  "Yes, sar, me trabel great deal. Me lib in Cuba long time. Den me libslave states, what you call Confederate. Den me lib Northern state, alsoCanada under Queen Victoria. Me trabel bery much. Now, sar, dinner come.Time to eat not to talk. After dinner white gentlemen tell me what theycame here for. Me tell dem if they like about my trabels, but dat berrylong story."

  The dinner consisted of two fowls cut in half and grilled over a fire,fried plantains, and, to the astonishment of the travelers, green peas,followed by cold boiled rice over which honey had been poured. Theirhost had placed plates only for two, but they would not sit down untilhe had consented to join them.

  Two girls waited, both neatly dressed in cotton, in a fashion which wasa compromise between European and negro notions.

  After dinner the negro presented them with two large and excellentcigars, made, as he said, from tobacco grown in his own garden, and theastonishment of the travelers was heightened by the reappearance of oneof the girls bearing a tray with three small cups of excellent blackcoffee.

  Their host now asked them for the story of their journey from the coast,and the object with which they had penetrated Africa. Mr. Goodenoughrelated their adventures, and said that they were naturalists in searchof objects of natural history. When he had finished Ostik, in obedienceto a whisper from him, brought in a bottle of brandy, at the sight ofwhich the negro broke into a chuckle.

  "Me tree months widout taste dat. Once ebery year me send down to coast,get coffee, tea, sugar, calico, beads, and rum. Dis time de rum amfinish too soon. One of de cases get broke and half de bottles smash.Dat berry bad job. Dis chile calculate dat six dozen last for a year,dat give him one bottle each week and twenty bottles for presents tooder chiefs. Eighteen bottles go smash, and as de oder chiefs expec'deir present all de same, Sam hab ta go widout. De men start three weeksago for coast. Me hope dey come back in six weeks more."

  "Well," Mr. Goodenough said, "you need not go without it till theycome back, for I can give you eight bottles which will last you for twomonths. I have got a good supply, and as I never use it for trade unlessa chief particularly wants it, I can very well spare it."

  The old negro was greatly pleased, and when he had drank his glass ofbrandy and water he responded to Mr. Goodenough's request, and, lightinga fresh cigar, he began the story of his adventures.

  "I was born in dis berry village somewhere about seventy years ago. Inot know for sure widin two or three year, for when I young man I nokeep account. My fader was de chief of dis village, just as I am now,but de village was not like dis. It was not so big, and was berry dirtyand berry poor, just like the oder nigger villages. Well, sar, dere amnothing perticlar to tell about de first years of my life. I jus' dirtylittle naked nigger like de rest. Dose were berry bad times. Ebery onefight against ebery one else. Ebery one take slabes and send dem down deriver, and sell to white men dere to carry ober sea. When I grow upto seventeen, I s'pose, I take spear and go out wid de people of disvillage and de oder villages of dis part ob country under king, andfight against oder villages and carry the people away as slabes. Allberry bad business dat. But Sam he tink nothing, and just do the same asoder people. Sometimes oder tribes come and fight against our villagesand carry our people away. So it happened to Sam.

  "Jus' when he about twenty years old we had come back from a long'spedition. Dis village got its share ob slabes, and we drink and singand make merry wid de palm tree wine and tink ourselves berry grandfellows. Well, sar, dat night great hullyballoo in de village. De dogsbark, de men shout and seize deir arms and run out to fight, but it nogood. Anoder tribe fall on us ten times as many as we. We fight hard butno use. All de ole men and de ole women and de little babies dat no goodto sell dey killed, and de rest of us, de men and de women and de boysand girls, we tied together and march away wid de people dat had takenus.

  "Berry bad time dat, sar. De season was dry and de water scarce. Wemake long march ebery day, and berry little food given. Dey beat us widsticks and prod us wid spear to make us go. A good many ob de weak onesdey die, but de most ob us arribe at mouth ob riber; me neber know whatriber dat was, but we were berry nigh two months in getting dere. Bydis time Sam arribe at the conclusion berry strong, dat de burning obvillages and carrying off ob slabes berry bad affair altogether. Sam habchanged his mind about a great many things, but about dat he am fixedright up to dis time.

  "Well, at de mouth ob dat riber Sam saw de white man for de first time;and me tell you fair, sar, Sam not like him no way. Dey were Spanishmen, and de way dey treat us poor niggers was someting awful. We huddleup night and day in a big shed dey call a barracoon. Dey gabe us berrylittle food, berry little water. Dey flog us if we grumble. Dese menbelong to ships, and had bought us from dose who brought us down fromup country. Deir ship not come yet, and for a long time we wait in thebarracoon wishing dat we could die. At last de ship came, and we weretaken on board and huddled down below. Law, what a place dat was to besure! Not more than tree feet high, just high enough to sit up, and derewe chained to deck. De heat, sar, was someting terrible. Some ob us yellout and scream for air, but dey only come down and beat us wid whips.

  "De day after we got on board de ship set sail. Tree hours after dat wehear a great running about on deck, and a shouting by the white men. Denwe hear big gun fire ober head, almost make us jump out of skin wid denoise. Den more guns. Den dere was a crash, and before we knew what wasde matter dere was a big hole in de side, and six niggers was killeddead. Ebery one yelled berry loud. We tink for sure that de last daycome. For a long time de guns keep firing, and den everyting quietagain. At de time no one could tink what de matter, but I s'pose datBritish cruiser chase us and dat de slaber sail away.

  "Dat was an awful voyage, sar. A
t first de sea smoove, and de ship goalong straight. Den de ship begin to toss about jus' as nigger does whenhe has taken too much palm wine, and we all feel berry bad. Ebery onegroan and cry and tink dat dey must have been poisoned. For tree days itwas a terrible time. De hatches were shut down and no air could come tous, and dere we was all alone in de dark, and no one could make out whyde great house on de water roll and tumble so much. We cry and shouttill all breaff gone, and den lie quiet and moan, till jus' when eberyone tink he dead, dey take off de hatch and come down and undo depadlocks and tell us to go up on deck. Dat berry easy to say, not at alleasy to do. Most of us too weak to walk, and say dat we dead and cannotmove. Den dey whip all about, and it was astonishing, sar, to see whatlife dat whip put into dead nigger. Somehow people feel dat dey couldcrawl after all, and when dey get up on deck and see de blessed sunagain and de blue sky dey feel better. But not all. In spite ob de whipmany hab to be carried up on deck, and dere de sailor men lay 'em downand trow cold water ober dem till dey open dere eyes and come to life.Some neber come to life. Dere were about six hundred when we start, andob dese pretty nigh a hundred die in dose tree days.

  "After dat tings not so bad. De weather was fine and no more Englishcruisers seen, so dey let half ob us up on deck at once for tree or fourhours ebery day. Dey give us more food, too, and fatten us up. We talkdis ober among ourselves, and s'pose dat dey going to eat us when weget to land again. Some propose not to eat food, but when dey try daton they get de whip, and conclude dat if dey must be eaten dey might aswell be eaten fat as lean.

  "At last we come in sight of land. Den we all sent below and stay deretill night. Den we brought on deck, and find de vessel lying in a littlecreek. Den we all land in boats, and march up country all night. In demorning we halt. Tree or four white men come on horses and look at us.Dey separate us into parties, and each march away into country again.Den we separate again, till at last me and twenty oders arribe at aplantation up in de hills. Here we range along in line before a whiteman. He speak in berry fierce tones, and a nigger by his side tell usdat dis man our master, dat he say if we work well he gib us plenty offood and treat us well, but dat if we not work wid all our might he whipus to death. After dis it was ebident that de best ting to do was towork hard.

  "I was young and berry strong, sar, and soon got de name of a willinghard working nigger. De massa he keep his word. Dose who work well notbad treated, plenty ob food and a piece of ground to plant vegetablesand to raise fowls for ourselves. So we passed two or tree year, plentyob hard work, but not berry much to grumble at. Den me and a gal of myown village, who had been bought in de same batch wid me, we go to massaand say we want to marry. Massa say, berry well. I fine strong niggerand work well, so he gib de gal four yards ob bright cotton for weddingdress, and a bottle ob rum to me, and we married.

  "Two or tree years pass, and my wife hab two piccanninies. Den de massago home to Spain, and leab overseer in plantation. Berry bad man dat.Before, if nigger work well he not beaten. Now he beaten wheder he workor not. For two or tree months we 'tand it, but tings get worse andworse. De oberseer he always drunk and go on like wild beast. One day hepassed by my wife hoeing de sugarcane and he gib her cut wid whip, jus'out of 'musement. She turn round and ask, 'What dat for?' He get mad,cut her wid whip, knock her down wid de handle, and den seizing de chiledat she had fastened to her back, he catch him by de leg and smash himskull against a tree. Den, sar, I seize my hoe, I rush at him, and Ichop him down wid all my strength, cut his skull clean in sunder, and hedrop down dead.

  "Den I knew dat dat was no place for Sam, so I take my hoe and I runaway as fast as I could. No one try to stop me. De oder niggers danceand sing when dey saw de oberseer fall dead. I ran all dat day up amongde hills, skirting round de different plantations till I get quite intode wild part. Wheneber I came to stream I walk a long way in him tillI get to tree hanging ober. Den pull myself up into de branches, climbalong and drop at de farthest end, and den run again, for I knew dat deywould set de bloodhounds after me.

  "At last I tink dat it am quite safe, and when de night came on lie downto sleep for a few hours. Before morning me off again, and by night getto de center of de wild country. Here I light a fire, and sit down, and,just as I 'spected, in two or tree hours five or six men come down tome. Dose were niggers who had run away from plantations. I tell dem mystory, dey agree dat I did berry right in killing oberseer. Dey take meaway to place where dey hab little huts and patches of yams. Two or treedays pass and no one come, so, we s'pose dat dey hab lost de scent.Me waited a month and den determined to go down and see about wife. Ijourney at night, and reach plantation in two days. Dere I hide till Isee nigger come along close to bush. I call him and he come. I tell himto tell my wife to steal away when night come, and to meet me dere. Henod and go away. Dat night my wife come wid de oder chile. We not talkmuch but start away for mountains. Me berry much afraid now becausemy wife not berry strong, she hurt by de blow and fretting after me.Howeber, we follow the way I had gone before. I make shift to help herup into trees from the streams, and dis time after tree days' travel wegot back to hut in the mountain.

  "Dere we lib berry happy for a year. Sometimes some ob us go down toplantation and take down baskets and oder tings dat we had made and chopdem for cotton. We had tobacco of our own, and some fowls which we gotfrom the plantations in de fust place. Altogether we did berry well.Sometimes band of soldiers come and march trough the country, but we habplenty hiding places and dey never find us. More and more runway slabescome, and at last we hear dat great 'spedition going to start to searchall de mountains. Dey come, two tree thousand ob dem. Dey form longskirmishing line, five or six mile long, and dey go ober mountain. Eberynigger dey find who not surrender when dey call to him dey shoot. WhenI heard ob deir coming I had long talk wid wife. We agree that it betterto leave de mountains altogether and go down and live in the bushesclose to the old plantation. Nobody look for us dere. So we make our waydown and lib there quiet. We get the yams out ob de plantations and libvery comfortable. When we tink all ober in the mountain we go back.

  "Well, sar, when we tink it all safe, and we get widin a mile ob de hutswhar we had libed, all at once we came upon a lot of soldiers in camp.Dey see us and make shout. I call to my wife to run, when dey fire. Abullet hit de baby, which she hab at her back, and pass through bothdeir bodies. I did not run any more, but jus' stood looking at my wifeand chile as if my senses had gone. Dere I stood till the soldiers cameup. Dey put a cord round my arms and led me away. After a time I wastaken down the country. Dere I was claimed, and when it was known I hadkilled a white oberseer I was tried. But de new oberseer did not want meto be hung, for I was a strong slave and worth money, so he told a storyabout how it happen, and after dey had flogged me very hard dey sent meback to plantation. Dere I work for a long time wid a great log of woodchained to my ankle to prevent me from running away again.

  "For a time I not care whether I lib or die, but at last I made up mymind to 'scape again. After six months dey took off de log, tinking datI had had enuf of de mountains and would not try to 'scape, and de logprevented my doing so much work. De bery next night I ran away again butdis time I determined to make for de town in hopes ob getting on boardan English ship, for I had heard from de oder slabes dat de English didnot keep black men as slabes, but dat, on de contry, dey did whatdey could to stop de Spanish from getting dem away from Africa, and Iunderstood now dat de dreful noise we had heard on de first day we wereon board ship was an attack upon our vessel by an English cruiser.

  "It was four days' journey down to de town by de sea. Dere was nodifficulty in finding de way, for de road was good, and I s'pose dat deyonly looked for me towards de hills. Anyhow I got dar safe, walking atnight and sleeping in the bushes by day. I got as near de town as I dar,and could see seberal vessels lying near de shore. I could see dat someob dem had de Spanish flag--I knew dat flag--de oders had flags whichI did not know. When it was dark I walked boldly into the town; no oneasked me any question,
and I make my way through de streets down to deshore. Dere I get into a boat and lay quiet till all de town was asleep.Den I get into water and swim off to a ship--one dat I had noticed hada flag which was not Spanish. Dere was a boat alongside. I climb into itand pull myself up by the rope on deck. Den some white men seize me andsay someting in language which I not understand. Den dey take me intocabin and say someting to captain; me not know what it was, but decaptain laugh, and me not like his laugh at all. Howeber, dey give mesometing to eat, and den take me down into hold of ship and tell me togo to sleep on some sacks of sugar, and throw some empty sacks ober meto cover me. Den dey close up hatch and leab me alone.

  "When I come on deck de land was gone and de vessel sailing along. Ispeak to no one, for I only understand little Spanish, and dese peoplenot speak dat. We sail along for some time, and at last we come in sightof land again. Den dey hoist flag and I see dat it a flag wid lots ofred stars and stripes upon him. I know now dat it was a 'Merican ship.Den I know noting. We get to port and I want to land, but dey shake deirheads.

  "De next day de captain he make sign to me to come wid him. I goalong to shore and he take me to a open space in town, where a man wasstanding on a raised platform. He had a black woman by de side ob him.Seberal men come up and look at her. De man he shout bery loud. Oder mensay something short. At last he knock on de table; a man tell de womanto come after him and she walk away. Den a boy was put up, and den twomore women, and ebery time just de same ting was done. Den de man callout, and de captain push his way through the crowd wid me, and tellme to climb up on platform. I get up and look round quite surprised.Eberybody laugh. Den de man began to holloa again. Den seberal men comeup and feel my arms and my legs. Dey point to de marks which de whip hadleft on my back, and dey laugh again. Presently de man who was shoutingbang his hand on the table again, and a white man in the crowd, who hadseberal times called out loud, come up to me, take me by the arm, andsign to me to go wid him.

  "I begin to understand now; dat rascally captain had sold me for aslabe, and dat flag I had seen was not de English flag. However, it wasno use to say anyting, and I went along wid my new massa. He was a nicelooking man, and I thought it might not be so bery bad after all. Hetook me to a high carriage wid two wheels and a fine horse. A negro, whowas dressed up like a white man, was holding de horse. He showed me toclimb up behind, de oders climb up in front, and we dribe away."