Stringtown on the Pike

A Novel by John Uri Lloyd

Chapter Twelve

?LOOK OUT FO? DE RED-HEAD BOY?

The spring of 1864 came and passed, the summer?s sun mounted into the heavens and shone bright and hot. Nature and man seemed intent on covering and removing as quickly as possible all traces of the disastrous storm that closed the year 1863 and ushered in 1864. Twisted and broken trees sent out new sprouts, which quickly shrouded the staring scars and wounds. The balmy south loaned new songsters to lurk in thickets that had risen again from where, on that fateful night, brush and briar had been beaten against the earth. The prolific rabbit had multiplied until once more its tracks were seen in the dust of the pike. The dove and the yellow-hammer, during the cruel cold spell following the storm, had left their haunts and sought the barnyard to sit in huddles upon the fence, and feed with the farmer?s fowls about the feet of domestic animals; but now again the one walked with nodding head in the pike dust, while the other pecked and thumped merrily upon the topmost bough of the dead beech in the forest. Nature in the flush of summer had forgotten the painful touch of the dismal winter; and when in the early spring men collected the scattered rails and rebuilt their fences, cleaned up the broken timber, and burned the useless brush and limbs, they too lent a hand in the great scheme of repair ushered in by the lengthening days and strengthening power of the sun?s rays. Before the month of May had passed, scarcely a memento was left to tell of the hurricane that brought distress and disaster to a continent. Still, an occasional reminder could be found imbedded in the luxuriant grass near Stringtown; bleaching bones that but for the storm of New Year, 1864, might yet have been flesh-clad, were familiar to the sight.

I stood beside Cupe in the valley of a meadow; a weather-worn skeleton cumbered the ground at our feet. Through the strewn ribs crept the heads of a bunch of young iron-weeds. The vine of a wild potato threaded the eyes of the bleaching skull: the long grass fringed about and pierced through and through the articulated vertebrae; a shin-bone with hoof attached moulded on the sward. I gave the shin bone a push with my bare foot, and a swarm of ants, uncovered by the act, scampered from beneath, each with a white larva in its mouth. I laughed aloud and beat the frightened insects with a stick; the moist earth became a pulp of struggling limbs and bodies mixed with loam, and under the rain of blows the slaughtered innocents were lost in common ruin.

The black man seemed not to observe the act; he gave no heed to my multi-crime, but mumbled over his thoughts:

?De co?ht am not fo? niggers, ?case niggers ain?t white. Ef a white man am drunk an? a fool, he kin sw?ah away de life ob a nigger; ef a nigger am sobah he ain?t got sense ?nuff ?cordin? to de co?ht t? tell what he knows. What?s de use ob Cupe goin? t? co?ht, an? tellin? de truf ?bout de will ob Ma?se? Cupe am a nigger, an? Dinah am a nigger too.?1

?Dinah saw your master sign his name to the will,? said I.

?But she am a nigger, an?et doan make no diff?ence what she saw; she am brack, an? de co?ht doan take her nigger talk.?

?Ain?t it queer about that money??

?Dah ain?t nuffin p?culiar ?bout et. De witches an? sperrits wah out dat night. Fo? de Lawd, when Cupe go fo? de doctah de ebenin? ob de storm, de gol? wah all in de chist. When de const?ble take p?session ob dat chist nex? day?dah war n?t nuffin? t? be seen.?

The old negro leaned over and gazed intently on the object at his feet. He rested one foot on the skull, and whispered: ?Dah ain?t no use in fightin? Prov?dence; de sign say dat de gol? wah fo? de gearl, an?, will er no will, et am fo? de gearl. Chile, chile, de sperrits what make de sign kin carry ?way de gol?.

?Ya, ya,? he added, in a hoarse whisper, ?es easy es t? pint t? what?s com?n? t?-morrah; an gloomy am de sign what pint t? Cupe and yo?!?

He intent on his soliloquy, I absorbed in listening, alike were oblivious to the approach of two men on horseback, who, leading a third horse saddled, but rider-less, having entered the field from the woods road, neared our position. A stick snapping beneath the hoof of one of the horses caused me to raise my head, but the noise appeared not to attract the attention of my companion. The old negro did not raise his eyes from the face of the skull, but in a monotonous undertone said: ?Dah am troubl? fo? Cupe an? yo? too, boy; et am in de air an? am com?n? fas.? Tole Dinah t? take good care ob de Susie gearl when Cupe am gone, an? Sammy Drew, yo? look out fo? de Red-Head Boy.?

Having ridden to within a few steps of us, one of the men alighted, produced a legal paper, placed his hand on the shoulder of Cupe (who now for the first time gazed in his direction) and said: ?By order of the Court I am commanded to arrest you, Cupid Hardman, and secure your person in the county jail.?

Old Cupe made no reply. The sheriff pointed to the empty saddle. The black man?s stolid face gave no evidence of emotion; unmoved, he repeated his former words in a low tone.

?Tole Dinah t? take good care ob Susie, an? yo? look our fo? de Red-Head Boy.? Then he slowly mounted the horse. The three turned and rode away.


Typed by Sharon Franklin, M. L. S., Boone County Public Library; Manager, Walton Branch

1 Negroes were permitted to testify in Kentucky if negroes only were concerned, but in cases where the interests of whites were affected, they were excluded.

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