er one fifty a year fur his time; an' so he put off ter Newbern.
Well, ebery ting gwo on right smart till de ole gemman die. Cale, he
work hard, pay master ebery year, and sabe up quite a heap. Well, ole
master die widout a will, an' all de property gwo ter de two sons; dat
am master James an' master Thomas--he war master Robert's fader. Now
master James he neber lib'd on de plantation, so he sold all his half ob
de nigs to master Thomas, an' put all de 'vails inter his bisness down
dar ter Mobile, whar he am now, doin' a heap in de cotton way. But he
didn't sell his half ob Cale, 'case master Thomas wouldn't buy him,
nohow. Well, dey owned Cale tugedder fur a spell, an' Cale he work on
right smart, till one day master James come home, and he tells master
Thomas dat on de way he'd a stopped at Newbern, and sole his half ob
Cale ter Cale heseff, fur five hundred dollar, and giben him de free
papers. Well, den Cale he want to buy de oder half ob heseff ob master
Thomas, an' master Thomas he offer to take de same money; but Cale say
de oder half not wuth so much as de fust, an' dat he wouldn't gib only
two fifty.'

'Not worth so much--why not?' I asked.

'Why, Cale say 'case he could do what he like wid de free half, and he
reckoned he shouldn't be quite so 'sponsible _den_ fur de slave half,'
and here Joe broke into a merry fit of laughter, in which Preston
joined.

'Well, master Thomas an' Cale couldn't 'gree 'bout de buyin', but Cale
promise to gib seventy-five dollar a year fur de use ob master's half,
an' he gwo off agin ter Newbern. Den de time gwo by fur a yar or two,
but master neber git nary dime out ob Cale fur his half. Cale would say
dat only half ob him wus free, an' de oder half wasn't 'sponsible, and
couldn't pay its debts, nohow. Finarly, master, seein' he couldn't git
nuffin out ob Cale, only offers ob two fifty fur de oder half--and _dat_
he wouldn't take, nohow--sent me down to Newbern to sort o' mediate
'tween Cale an' he. Well, I coaxed Cale to 'gree to wuck one monfh for
heseff and de oder monfh fur massa, and I come home; but it warn't ob no
use; Cale would wuck, but massa neber seed a fip ob de pay. Finarly,
af'er he'd a gone on dat way 'bout ten yar, stowin' 'way what he arned
whar nobody could fine it, an' allers off'rin' two fifty fur de oder
half ob heseff, master Thomas he die, and master Robert he come ter lib
on de plantation. Den master Robert axed me what he should do wid Cale,
and I tol