The Lost Hunter Part 24

"Fun for you, but not for me by a long chalk. Ba.s.set would have the best on't, too, for he'd have come right top on me. How the crittur would have crowed!"

"I hear him crow two or tree time already," said Primus, who had been to the door several times, and could detect faint sounds whenever the imprisoned Ba.s.set shouted.

"Let him try his lungs a little longer. It will clear his voice for singing school. I guess I must go to meeting next Sabbath, if for nothing else, to hear him perform."

"But I 'fraid de poor man freeze," said the compa.s.sionate General.

"Never fear, 'twon't hurt him. It will do him good to freeze some of the ugliness out of him. Besides it's best to wait awhile. Perhaps, somebody coming along will help him out, and that will save you the trouble."

"Me! Missa Gladding! what hab I to do wid it? You put him dere, and you is de one to pull him out."

"Don't be onreasonable, Prime, now. You see, if I should go, he'd know, of course, all about it. Why, he'd recollect the clothes, and next thing I should be took up for a.s.sault and battery."

"And who save me from being took up?"

"O, there ain't no danger of that. They can't git no hold on ye. You can say you hearn crying for help, and didn't know but what Holden had turned on him, and so come to a.s.sist."

Primus shook his head dubiously. He hardly knew what to reply, yet was evidently disinclined to the adventure. For that reason, perhaps, he allowed Ba.s.set to remain in durance longer than his own good-nature prompted, in the hope that relief might arrive from some other quarter.

"I vow," at last exclaimed Gladding, "if I don't believe you're afraid Ba.s.set will give you a licking."

"Ba.s.set, nor no oder man, ebber see de day nor night to make me 'fraid," said the valorous General, whose natural courage was a little stimulated by the cider he had been drinking, starting up and preparing for his expedition. "But, Missa Gladding, you promise to stand by me if dis sc.r.a.pe go any furder."

"Sartainly," answered Tom, "I never left a friend in the lurch, I tell you."

"Gib us you hand on dat."

Tom extended a great sledge-hammer fist, and the two shook hands in sign of inviolable fidelity.

"Now," said Tom, "I guess, I'll make myself scarce. I wouldn't have him see me in this rig for all the cider I drank to-night. There's some left in the old pitcher, so fetch him along, and comfort the critter's heart with a few swigs."

With these words, Tom took his leave, first altering somewhat the disposition of his garments, divesting himself of the sash, placing the cap higher on his brows, and depositing the false beard in his pocket, while Primus, lighting a fresh pipe, sallied forth on his errand of benevolence.

As he approached he could hear plainer the halloo which Ba.s.set occasionally emitted from his trap. The ears of the latter sharpened by expectation, caught the sound of the advancing steps, while as yet the deliverer was at too great a distance to see the hole, and his cries for a.s.sistance were redoubled.

"Help!" he cried, "help! They want to murder me. This way--here, in the old well--this way--O, Lord!"

Such were the cries that saluted the ears of Primus, as soon as he was near enough to distinguish articulate sounds.

"Who dere?" cried the General.

"O, Prime, help us out of this tarnation hole," groaned Ba.s.set.

"Onpossible! can dis be you, Missa Ba.s.set?" inquired Primus, peering over the edge of the pit. "How come you dere?"

"Don't ask no questions, now, though, I guess, you know as well as me."

"His head turn wid de scare, prob.u.mbly," soliloquized Primus, loud enough to be heard by the captive. "I curus to larn how you fall in.

Ebberybody know dis hole, Missa Ba.s.set."

"Haul me out, and I'll let you know."

There was something in the tone of voice that did not at all please the General, so looking around, and observing no one in sight, for it was a lonely place, and having all the advantage on his side, he resolved to parley, and secure satisfactory terms before he delivered the prisoner.

"I bery sorry for you, Missa Ba.s.set," he said, "and if you wait awhile, I go to de village to git a rope to haul you out."

But this proposition was far from suiting the constable. Now that a.s.sistance was near at hand, he dreaded to lose it out of sight or hearing. He knew there was no necessity for procuring any rope, and feared that if Primus put his threatened plan into execution, he would bring along with him a rabble of men and boys, to jeer at and ridicule his sufferings. This now seemed worse than all he had already endured; he was, therefore, willing to make any compromise to avert the disaster.

"Don't go, don't go, Prime," begged the constable. "Just give us your hand, and pull us out of this infarnal place. There's no need of any rope."

"But suppose you pull me in arter you, what we do den? De fire would be all in de fat. Beside, you talk as if you respect me. No, I tink I be safer if oder folks be here, too."

"O, Prime," whined Ba.s.set, "you hain't no better friend in the world than me, and no more bowels of marcy than a stump. I tell ye, I don't suspect you. Lend us a hand, and I'll never forget it, the longest day I have to live."

"Well," said the General, "you must make us a promise, fust."

"What promise? I'll make any promise you please, only do help us out.

I'm 'most dead with cold."

"You must promise nebber to say any ting about dis night. Dere's 'spicious folks round, like de doctor, and when dey hear you git catch like a rat in a trap, dey is likely to say, 'Ah, dat is dat old niggur Primus's work,' and so I lose my good character. De innocent man must be like de weasel dat is nebber catch asleep."

It went hard against the grain, for the constable to make the promise, but there was no alternative except remaining there, he knew not how long, finally to be extricated by a laughing crowd. With a very ill grace, therefore, he promised all that Primus required, and would have bound himself to ten times more, if necessary; but the General was generous, and asked only security for the future, having no indemnity to demand for the past. Planting his sound foot firmly in the snow, the General extended his hand, which being grasped by Ba.s.set, he was soon delivered from thraldom.

"What's to hender me now, you infernal darkey," exclaimed the exasperated constable, as soon as he found himself in the upper air, "from throwing you into the well, and letting you rot there!"

"What to hender, Missa Ba.s.set?" returned the General, stepping back.

"You own feelings, Missa Ba.s.set. But you can try it if you please," he added, letting fall his arms by his sides, which, at the threatening tone of the constable, he had raised instinctively in self-defence.

But the other seemed more disposed to allow his anger to explode in words than to resort to violence.

"To be chucked into a hole like a dead cat, by a cunning old wool head, was more'n mortal man could bear," he said, "and he didn't know why he shouldn't knock out his black brains, on the spot."

"You can try de 'speriment, if you please," said Primus, cooly, "and when dey is knock out, I advise you to gadder dem up for you own use."

"You're a saacy n.i.g.g.e.r," said Ba.s.set, "and if I sarved you right, I'd clap you into the workhouse."

"Missa Ba.s.set, you bery mad; and when a man is mad, he always onreasonable. But fire away--it keep you warm, and stop you catching cold."

"Onreasonable! when a fellow's been sprawling about in snow and cornstalks, for more'n two hours, and got more'n half froze! How would you like it?"

"If Missa Ba.s.set chase Missa Holden, in de moonlight, and fall into a hole, is I to blame?"

"I don't believe it was Holden. I believe it was all a plan between you and some other fellow to git me into the sc.r.a.pe. Come, now, Prime," he said, moderating his voice into a less ill-natured tone, "tell us, and I'll let you off this time."

"O, Lord!" exclaimed Primus, lifting up his hands, with open palms, and rolling up his eyes towards the moon, "de man is crazy wid de fright, and he see Missa Holden, too, widin two tree feet."

He turned now on his way home, as if disdaining longer converse with one who refused to listen to reason. The constable followed at his side, growling the whole way, and reproaching the General with his perfidy, the latter protesting it was Ba.s.set's own fault, "when he knew dere was a hole dere," and that he would have nothing to do with him, or with the cunning old man, for the future. Upon arriving at the bars, Primus, notwithstanding his indignation at the suspicion cast on his honor, courteously invited Ba.s.set to take a drink with him, but the latter, suspecting, perhaps, another snare, was in no humor to accept the invitation; and, turning away without even noticing the black's good-night, directed hasty steps towards the lights of the town.