Page:A strange, sad comedy (IA strangesadcomedy00seawiala).pdf/24

12 "You do me honor," he said, "but you do my son only justice."

By this time the wagons had been loaded up and were being driven off. The scared negroes that had flocked about the house from all over the plantation were peering, with ashy faces, around the corners and over the garden fence. The men were ordered to fall in, the lieutenant giving his orders at a considerable distance, and in his involuntary and marked brogue. The lanky sergeant and the few men with him mounted, and then all of them, simultaneously, took off their caps.

"Three cheers for the old game-cock!" cried the lanky sergeant enthusiastically. The cheers were given with a will and with a grin. The Colonel bowed profoundly, smiling all the time.

"This is truly grotesque," he said. "You have just appropriated all of my last year's crops, and now you are assuring me of your personal respect. For the last, I thank you," and so, with cheering and laughter, they rode off, leaving the Colonel with his self-respect unimpaired, but minus several hundred bushels of corn and wheat. The negroes gradually quieted down, and the Colonel and Miss Je-