Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/234

230 what air los' its sucker an' Aunt Peachy didn't make no mo' min' ter him than she would er ter a flea."

The old woman paused a moment to pick up a stitch in her knitting.

"There, now, I done drap a stitch! That's 'cause I air doin' wrong a-talkin' 'bout ol' Aunt Peachy an' her Mumbo Jumbo a carryin' on."

"But, Aunt Pearly Gates, please don't stop. It was a dark night—no, I forgot, the moon was shining so bright it was almost as hot as the sun. Usually when people tell about something scary it's a dark night. Please tell me! What happened on that hot night?"

"My mammy wa' a youngish ooman then an' I wa' a gal o' fifteen. My pappy wa' a pow'f ul rovin' man, mo'n half Injun. There wa'n't nothin' goin' on in the woods my pappy didn't know about. He wa' all time gittin' up in the night an' cropin' out'n the cabin. Mammy wa' moughty jealous er pappy, though I don' think she had no reason ter be. In the fus' place Marse Thomas didn' stan' fer no carryin's on in the quarters an' if'n they wa' any a goin' on they wa' allus some tell-tale-tit ter be infawmin' 'bout it. I jes' think the Injun useter be too strong in him sometimes an' he'd be fo'ced ter answer the call."