A Daughter of Maryland — page 92: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A DAUGHTER OF MARYLAND. a5 awful mad wiv dis po’ ol’ nig, but fore de good Lord, Missus Orry, I do whut T fink wuz bes’.’’ ‘“Don’t be alarmed about that, S’posen. I am not going to blame you for anything you did.’’ — ‘*Not a ti’ng, missus, *suah ?’’ ‘Not a thing that I know of, S’posen. So go ahead and tell us how you escaped and what became of your ha’nt.”’ With a show of relief at getting out of what he must have ~ considered a difficult situation, S’posen continued : ‘I s’pec’s yo’ t’ink I am de bigges’ liar dat eber libed, Missus Orry, but dis berry fac’ I’se goin’ to propoun’ am de bigges’ an’ awfulles’ truf I can explode. W’en I see dat ha’nt a-ridin’ off wiv po’ Gyp, I jess made one desprit lept to bresh dat t’ief off, but I jess missed him! But I wuz spry ’nough to kotch dat hoss’ tail in my pow’ful grasp, an’ dar I hild. How dat hoss did fly, an’ dat air ha’nt a-proddin’ him all de time, an’ I a-streamin’ athistail! I guess yo’d been s’prised to see us! I s’pec’s dat ride wuz kept up all night—ennyway tn Gyp wuz *bout dead w’en dat ha’nt, tired hissel’ I s’pose, slid off’n his poe an’ ’speared in de darkness ob de night.’’ ‘“But where was your ha’nt by that time, S’posen?’’ as the other stopped to get his breath. | ‘*Way ober de line ob freedom, missus. I hopes yo’ don’ blame po’ me fo’ lettin’ him ride Brack Gyp so. Yo’ see I didn’t hab time to git more’n one hand-holt on dat hosses tail. If I had had ernuther bref I s’pec’s I c’u’d stopped him afore.’ ‘*Never mind, as Tier as you got Gyp home all right, ’’ said Aurian, leaving the negro to still further enlighten his companions with his remarkable story, all of which was received with a credulity of astonishing susceptibility by his knot of dusky hearers. ‘What is this nonsense S’posen Jones is telling those negroes?’’ asked Major Lancier as Aurian joined him in the dining-room. -Eomicboo cS