it fifty just as easy," said Turner. "Niggers are all
just a passell o' black fools. Bud would 'a' b'en out now, if it
hadn't be'n for me. I bought him fer six months. I kept close watch of
him for the first five, and then along to'ds the middle er the las'
month I let on I'd got keerliss, an' he run away. Course I put the
dawgs on 'im, an' followed 'im here, where his woman is, an' got you
after 'im, and now he's good for six months more."

"The woman is a likely gal an' a good cook," said Haines. "_She'd_ be
wuth a good 'eal to you out at the stockade."

"That's a shore fact," replied the other, "an' I need another good
woman to help aroun'. If we'd 'a' thought about it, an' give' her a
chance to hide Bud and feed him befo' you took 'im up, we could 'a'
filed a charge ag'inst her for harborin' 'im."

"Well, I kin do it nex' time, fer he'll run away ag'in--they always
do. Bud's got a vile temper."

"Yes, but he's a good field-hand, and I'll keep his temper down. Have
somethin' mo'?"

"I've got to go back now and feed the pris'ners," said Haines, rising
after he had taken another drink; "an' I'll stir Bud up so he'll raise
h--ll, an' to-morrow morning I'll make another charge against him
that'll fetch his fine up to fifty and costs."

"Which will give 'im to me till the cotton crop is picked, and several
months more to work on the Jackson Swamp ditch if Fetters gits the
contract. You stand by us here, Haines, an' help me git all the han's
I can out o' this county, and I'll give you a job at Sycamo' when yo'r
time's up here as constable. Go on and feed the niggers, an' stir up
Bud, and I'll be on hand in the mornin' when court opens."

When the lesser of these precious worthies left his superior to his
cups, he stopped in the barroom and bought a pint of rotgut whiskey--a
cheap brand of rectified spirits coloured and flavoured to resemble
the real article, to which it bore about the relation of vitriol to
lye. He then went into a cheap eating house, conducted by a Negro for
people of his own kind, where he procured some slices of fried bacon,
and some soggy corn bread, and with these various purchases, wrapped
in a piece of brown paper, he betook himself to the guardhouse. He
unlocked the door, closed it behind him, and called Peter. The old man
came forward.

"Here, Peter," said Haines, "take what you want of this, and give some
to them other fellows, and if there's anything left after you've got
what you want