Bad Hugh

One night, near the middle of summer, Jake, a burly negro, came earlier

than usual, and seeking Alice, thrust into her hand a note from Colonel

Tiffton. It read as follows: "DEAR ALICE: I have a suspicion that the villainous scamps, headed

by Harney, mean to steal horses from Spring Bank to-night, hoping

by that means to engage you in a bit of a fight. In short, Harney

was heard to say, 'I'll have every horse from Spring Bank before

to-morrow morning; and if that Yankee miss appears to dispute my

claim, as I trust she will, I'll have her, too;' and then the bully

laid a wager that 'Major Alice,' as he called you, would be his

prisoner in less than forty-eight hours.

"I hope it is not true, but if he does come, please keep quietly in

the house, and let him take every mother's son of a horse. I shall

be around watching, but hanged if it will do to identify myself

with you as I wish to do. They'd shoot me like a dog."

To say that Alice felt no fear would be false. There was a paling of the

cheek and a sinking of the heart as she thought of what the fast-falling

night might bring. But her trust was not in her own strength, and

dismissing Jake from her presence, she bent her face upon the piano lid

and prayed most earnestly to be delivered from the approaching peril, to

know just what to do, and how to act; then summoning the entire

household to the large sitting-room, she explained to them what she had

heard, and asked what they must do.

"Shall we lock ourselves inside the house and let them have the horses,

or shall we try to keep them?"

It took a few minutes for the negroes to recover from their fright, and

when they had done so Claib was the first to speak.

"Please, Miss Ellis, Massa Hugh's last words to me was: 'Mind, boy, you

takes good keer of de hosses.' Massa Hugh sot store by dem. He not stay

quiet in de chimbly corner and let Sudden 'Federacy stole 'em."

"Dem's my theology, Miss Ellis," chimed in Uncle Sam, rising and

standing in the midst of the dark group assembled near the door. "I'se

for savin' de horses."

"An' I'se for shootin' Harney," interrupted the little Mug, her eyes

flashing, and her nostrils dilating as she continued: "I knows it's

wicked, but I hates him, an' I never tole you how I seen him in de woods

one day, an' he axes me 'bout my Miss and Mars'r Hugh--did they writ

often, an' was they kinder sparkin'? I told him none of his bizness, and

cut and run, but he bawl after me and say how't he steal Miss Ellis some

night and make her be his wife. I flung a rock at him, big rock, too,

and cut again. Ugh!"