Iola Leroy - Shadows Uplifted | Page 5

prayer-meeting was held. Under the cover of night a few dusky figures
met by stealth in McCullough's woods.
"Howdy," said Robert, approaching Uncle Daniel, the leader of the
prayer-meeting, who had preceded him but a few minutes.
"Thanks and praise; I'se all right. How is you, chile?"
"Oh, I'm all right," said Robert, smiling, and grasping Uncle Daniel's
hand.
"What's de news?" exclaimed several, as they turned their faces eagerly
towards Robert.
"I hear," said Robert, "that they are done sending the runaways back to
their masters."
"Is dat so?" said a half dozen earnest voices. "How did you yere it?"
"I read it in the papers. And Tom told me he heard them talking about it
last night, at his house. How did you hear it, Tom? Come, tell us all
about it."
Tom Anderson hesitated a moment, and then said:--
"Now, boys, I'll tell you all 'bout it. But you's got to be mighty mum
'bout it. It won't do to let de cat outer de bag."
"Dat's so! But tell us wat you yered. We ain't gwine to say nuffin to
nobody."
"Well," said Tom, "las' night ole Marster had company. Two big
ginerals, and dey was hoppin' mad. One ob dem looked like a turkey
gobbler, his face war so red. An' he sed one ob dem Yankee ginerals, I
thinks dey called him Beas' Butler, sed dat de slaves dat runned away
war some big name--I don't know what he called it. But it meant dat all

ob we who com'd to de Yankees should be free."
"Contraband of war," said Robert, who enjoyed the distinction of being
a good reader, and was pretty well posted about the war. Mrs. Johnson
had taught him to read on the same principle she would have taught a
pet animal amusing tricks. She had never imagined the time would
come when he would use the machinery she had put in his hands to
help overthrow the institution to which she was so ardently attached.
"What does it mean? Is it somethin' good for us?"
"I think," said Robert, a little vain of his superior knowledge, "it is the
best kind of good. It means if two armies are fighting and the horses of
one run away, the other has a right to take them. And it is just the same
if a slave runs away from the Secesh to the Union lines. He is called a
contraband, just the same as if he were an ox or a horse. They wouldn't
send the horses back, and they won't send us back."
"Is dat so?" said Uncle Daniel, a dear old father, with a look of saintly
patience on his face. "Well, chillen, what do you mean to do?"
"Go, jis' as soon as we kin git to de army," said Tom Anderson.
"What else did the generals say? And how did you come to hear them,
Tom?" asked Robert Johnson.
"Well, yer see, Marster's too ole and feeble to go to de war, but his
heart's in it. An' it makes him feel good all ober when dem big ginerals
comes an' tells him all 'bout it. Well, I war laying out on de porch fas'
asleep an' snorin' drefful hard. Oh, I war so soun' asleep dat wen
Marster wanted some ice-water he had to shake me drefful hard to
wake me up. An' all de time I war wide 'wake as he war."
"What did they say?" asked Robert, who was always on the lookout for
news from the battle-field.
"One ob dem said, dem Yankees war talkin' of puttin' guns in our han's
and settin' us all free. An' de oder said, 'Oh, sho! ef dey puts guns in

dere hands dey'll soon be in our'n; and ef dey sets em free dey wouldn't
know how to take keer ob demselves.'"
"Only let 'em try it," chorused a half dozen voices, "an' dey'll soon see
who'll git de bes' ob de guns; an' as to taking keer ob ourselves, I specs
we kin take keer ob ourselves as well as take keer ob dem."
"Yes," said Tom, "who plants de cotton and raises all de crops?"
"'They eat the meat and give us the bones, Eat the cherries and give us
the stones,'
"And I'm getting tired of the whole business," said Robert.
"But, Bob," said Uncle Daniel, "you've got a good owner. You don't
hab to run away from bad times and wuss a comin'."
"It isn't so good, but it might be better. I ain't got nothing 'gainst my ole
Miss, except she sold my mother from me. And a boy ain't nothin'
without his mother. I forgive her, but I never forget her, and never
expect to. But if she were the best woman