e judge believed now that Abram had spoken the truth, for the time

When Old John Brown, Ossawattomie Brown,
Shall be a name to swear by in backwoods and in town,

had come. The time was the commencement of the war, and any reference to
his name on the part of a negro was equivalent to the most solemn oath.

"What did John Brown ever know about it?" asked the judge.

"Why, yer see, he war dar, sah: he come down de ribber on de same boat wid
de driber an' Vina. De driber he'd done bought up a heap ob likely young
gals all de way down t'roo' Missouri an' de udder towns what neighbored
on to de ribber--han'somest young women he could find, what'd bring a high
price in New Orleans--an' when he gits dar, what's he do but go roun' to
all de slabe-pens an' buy up a heap ob worn-out, or'nary old niggers, what
had been worked to def in de rice-swamps, an' nobody wouldn't gib five
dollars for. Den he marries de peartest ob de gals to de mizzablest ob de
ole men. When de time fur de auction come, dar was plenty ob buyers for de
gals, but nobody wanted dem good-for-nuffin' ole husbands. 'Can't help
it,' says de driber--'Can't help it, no way whatsumebber: it's ag'in our
principles to part families. Ef yer want de woman, yer mus' take her ole
man too.' An' so dey gin'rally did, an' paid a high price fur him too, fur
de sake ob gittin' de gal. Wall, as I was a-sayin', Massa John Brown he
come down in de same boat wid Vina: he'd took notice ob her, and he knowed
she hadn't any ole man. De nex' day he come walkin' down to de slabe-pen,
a-purtendin' to be a planter, and a-axin' de price ob de niggers. When dey
tole him I was Vina's husband, he says, 'Why, he's too ole to be anybody's
husband: I don't believe he's got a toof in his head.'--'Yes I has,
massa,' says I: 'I'se got t'ree left, and can chaw hoecake powerful, but I
don't crack no pecans in my mouf. Better buy me, sah: dar's a heap ob
sarbice in me yet. I'se only drawed up wid de rheumatiz, dat's
all.'--'Come ober heah to de light,' says he, 'an' let me look in yo'
mouf, an' see whedder yer _hab_ got any teef.' So I went wid him, an'
while he was a-purtendin' to find out my p'ints he says to me, very quiet,
'Yer ain't dat gal's husband, nohow,' says he, 'an' yer knows it.':--'I
knows it, massa,' says I, 'an' I'se skeered for my life ob her, fur she
done said she'd kill any one dey dar'd to mate wid her: she's done got a
husband ob her own up de ribber, I reckon.'--'Yes,