Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/241

Rh I jumped up from my knees an' I called out in a loud, clear voice, an' in them days they useter say I had a voice lak a bell—even though I wa' so young they useter call on me ter lead the singin' at meetin's."

"What was the sign? What did you call?" asked Rebecca, her eyes shining with excitement.

"I called out: 'See the cross! Sinners! See the cross!' Sho' 'nough, thar wa' the cross right thar befo' us—an' it wa' the self-same ol' burnt tree with the horse hide stretched 'roun' it with the black man a beatin' it fer dear life.

"'Look! Look! We're in the shadder er the cross!' I cried out louder an' clearer, an' all the crazy dancers stopped an' looked down on the groun' an' seed the shadder an' then they looked up an' seed the ol' burnt tree a standin' out lak a cross an' they fell down on they knees an' howled lak they wa' in mortal pain. Si Johnson then began ter 'zort an' pray an' the black man what had been a beatin' er the drum fell down in a kinder fit.

"The outlandish chune what they had been a hummin' an' buzzin' wa' still a ringin' in my years, an' all of a sudden it come ter me that it wa' pretty nigh the chune what we all time sung, 'Come Along, True Believer' to, so I jes' raised up my voice in the hymn an' it wa'n't