Plate to wash, crockery
to open, water to b'ile, dem knife to clean, and not'ing missed. Lord,
here's a madam, and 'e whole kitchen in a diffusion."

"Well, Mari'," exclaimed the captain, good-naturedly, "here you are,
scolding away as if you had been in the place these six months, and
knew all its faults and weaknesses."

"Can't help a scold, master, in sich a time as dis--come away from dem
plates, _you_ Great Smash, and let a proper hand take hold on
'em."

Here we ought to say, that captain Willoughby had christened Bess by
the sobriquet of Great Smash, on account of her size, which fell little
short of two hundred, estimated in pounds, and a certain facility she
possessed in destroying crockery, while 'Mony went by the milder
appellation of "Little Smash;" not that bowls or plates fared any
better in her hands, but because _she_ weighed only one hundred
and eighty.

"Dis is what I tell 'em, master," continued Mari', in a remonstrating,
argumentative sort of a tone, with dogmatism and respect singularly
mingled in her manner--"Dis, massa, just what I tell 'em _all_. I
tell 'em, says I, this is Hunter Knoll, and not All_bon_ny--here
no store--no place to buy t'ing if you break 'em; no good woman who
know ebbery t'ing, to tell you where to find t'ing, if you _lose_
him. If dere was only good woman, _dat_ somet'ing; but no fortun'-
teller out here in de bushes--no, no--when a silber spoon go,
_here_, he go for good and all--Goody, massy"--staring at something
in the court--"what he call _dat_, sa?"

"That--oh! that is only an Indian hunter I keep about me, to bring us
game--you'll never have an empty spit, Mari', as long as _he_ is
with us. Fear nothing; he will not harm you. His name is Nick."

"De _Ole_ Nick, massa?"

"No, only _Saucy_ Nick. The fellow is a little slovenly to-day in
his appearance, and you see he has brought already several partridges,
besides a rabbit. We shall have venison, in the season."

Here all the negroes, after staring at Nick, quite a minute, set up a
loud shout, laughing as if the Tuscarora had been created for their
special amusement. Although the captain was somewhat of a martinet in
his domestic discipline, it had ever altogether exceeded his authority,
or his art, to prevent these bursts of merriment; and he led his wife
away from the din, leaving Mari', Great Smash, and Little Smash, with
the two Plinies, in ecstasies at their own uproar. Burst succeeded
burst, until the I