Stringtown on the Pike

A Novel by John Uri Lloyd

Chapter Thirteen

THE ARREST OF CUPE

Motionless I stood over the dismembered skeleton. Forgotten was the soliloquy of the aged negro, out of mind his story of the past. To a child the name of the law is sacred; in a boy?s mind an officer of the law stands exalted, above and beyond the ordinary human. Slowly the three men on horseback receded in the distance, while I gazed at them with hand-shaded eyes. Their horses walked with downcast heads through the long meadow grass, but when the fence that bounded the woods-road was reached and the bars were ?put up? a brisk pace replaced the walk, and soon the figures disappeared. Neither of the men cast a look backward; not even when waiting for the dismounted officer to replace the bars did Cupe give a glance in my direction. Just before their forms vanished in the shadows of the drooping beeches a melodious howl arose in the distance ? a cry that one who has heard the notes of a Southern darkey?s dog can appreciate ? and all was still again. Then, and not until then, did I move, but as the three passed into the depths of the forest I turned and followed a sheep path that led in the opposite direction ? across the meadow, around the neck of a tangled thicket, through a woodland pasture, where, mounting a slight hill, I came within sight of a log cabin that rested on the slope beyond the summit. Bare and desolate, the trunk of a tall, shell-bark hickory tree, with top broken off fifty feet from the earth, stood near by, a relic of the New Year storm! A square enclosure in the garden behind the house was marked by a group of little mounds, on one of which, shaded by a cedar tree, the grass was younger and of a brighter green than on the others; these were the most conspicuous objects about the cabin.

An aged negress, her head bound in a red bandanna handkerchief, sat inside, with a child on her knee. She was combing the long, dark locks of the little girl, at the same time singing in a rasping tone a weird ditty that only persons reared by or among the blacks could have understood. Unseen, I stood silent, looking at the two figures; but my shadow striking across the floor caused the old woman to turn quickly.

?Come in off dat doah-sill! What fo? yo? dare do sech a fool ting es t? come t? a fren?s house an? stop in de open doah? Yo? bring trouble on de fam?ly suah by sech actin? up.?

?Yes,? I said, ?there is trouble, Aunt Dinah.?

?Come in off dat doah-sill, I tole yo?, an? took a cheer. Doan make de trouble wussah dan it am, ef dah am trouble on yoah min?.?

I entered the room and seated myself on a shuck-bottomed chair.

?Now fo? yoah trouble. What am it??

?Cupe has been arrested.?

The old negress dropped her comb and gazed at me in wonder.

?Spoke ag?in, chile.?

?Cupe has been arrested.?

?What fool stuff yo? gibin? me? What fo? should Cupe be ?rested? De chicken house am full ob fowl, de pastyah am alibe wid sheep an? pigs, de turkey talk all day t? de grasshoppah, an? de guiney-hen cry ?pot-rack, pot-rack? all night ?roun? dis cabin. De bah?l ob flour an? de meal sack am full, an? de fat sides an? de hams am drippin? grease in de smokehouse. What moah do any nigger wan?? What lyin?fool wah et who ?rest Cupe??

?The sheriff of the county.?

?Lawd! Lawd! But wah it not de const?ble??

?No, it was the sheriff.?

?Fo? de Lawd, de case am ser?ous, suah! De sheriff don?t trabel ?bout cotchin? niggers what grab a chicken fo? de toofache.?

Gradually the gravity of the case dawned upon the mind of the old crone, but only to increase her incoherent wrath. She engaged in a tirade of abuse, questionings and jabberings in which the sheriff, the law, the liars (unknown) who had defamed Cupe, and lastly poor old Cupe himself, came in each for a full share of vituperation.

Finding myself neglected, I turned to depart; but now the negress, quieting her jargon as suddenly as she had begun, said: ?Yo? mus? eat a bite, chile. Dinah mus?n? fergit her mannahs even ef yo? did bring trouble. Sit a minit an? eat a bite.?

?I did n?t bring trouble, Aunt Dinah; the trouble came before I saw you.?

?Did n?t yo? come t? a fren?s house an? stan? in de open doah??

?Yes, but that did not make the trouble, for Cupe was arrested before I came.?

?Yo? doan know nuffin? ?bout sech tings an? yo? ain?t golified t? speak. De doah-sill sign kin work boff ways. Ef a ting es, et es, an? fool argyments ob pussons what doan know de sign?s powah can?t change de fac?s. Doan yo? stan? on de doah-sill, I axes??

?Yes.?

?Doan de trouble come??

?Yes, but??

?De sigh wah workin? backward, chile; close yo? mouf wid dese wittles.?

She quickly placed a dish of honey, a loaf of salt-rising light bread and a glass of milk upon the clean table, and once more I ate in that cabin which it seemed my footsteps could not evade. The girl sat quietly and eyed me; did she remember my former visit? During the repast I game Dinah full particulars concerning Cupe?s arrest.

As I rose to depart Dinah asked: ?An? what word did Cupe send t? Dinah??

?He said: ?Tell Dinah to take good card of the Susie child.??

Dinah seemed pleased with the trust; then she whispered: ?An? what did he say to yo?, chile??

?He told me to ?Beware of the Red-Head Boy,? but I don?t know what he meant.?

?Yo? will know some day, honey; yo? will know to yoah sorrah some day.?

She leaned over and spoke in a low, guttural tone: ?De day ob trouble am com?n?, an? de Red-Head Boy am mixed in de ebil sign. Cupe read de omen, an? et say dat de Red-Head Boy an? Susie an? yo,? chile, am edgin? on t? sahtin deff. Et say dat de Red-Head Boy?ll die sudden an? dat yo? an? Susie?ll be de cause; an? dat yo?ll die sudden, an? dat de Red-Head Boy an? Susie?ll be de cause.?

?How did he read it, Aunt Dinah??

?He read et in de glass, de sign glass what p?ints t? de act dat ain?t been acted.?

?And what of Susie, Aunt Dinah??

?De sighn wah monstrous cu?yus ?bout de gearl. Cupe read de omen twice; et wah monstrous cu?yus.?

?Tell me about it, Dinah.?

?De honey gearl wah alibe suah, but folks looks at her es ef she wah dead. She wah suah alibe, an? she wah dead.?

?How could she be alive and dead, too??

?Dat am what trouble Cupe. De sign say she am dead an? dat she am gone out ob de worl?, but suah she am still alibe. She wah walkin? an? a talkin? aftah de sign p?int t? her bein? gone from out de worl?. Dere wah a shaddah on de face ob de glass, de shaddah ob a great big Cross.?

?You?re fooling, Aunt Dinah; how could each of us boys and Susie be the cause of the death of one another? That cannot be.?

?Deed, child, I ain?t foolin?, et am de p?intin? ob de sign. Et can?t be done, yo? say, but de sign say et mus? be done, an? Cupe say et will be done. But de omen say dat befo? de fulfillment ob de spell in de time t? come de Red-Head Boy mus? sit alone in de cabin ob Susie. Lis?en, chile; dah ain?t no harm t? come till he sit all alone in Susie?s cheer in de night.?

Too well acquainted with the superstitions of the negroes to consider seriously this prophetic outburst, I smiled and turned to depart.

The old crone stepped outside the doorway, took me by the hand, and looked me steadily in the face.

?An? Dinah say too, watch out fo? de Red-Head Boy.?


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

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