Father said nothing and
waited. About an hour before sundown back came Aleck. Father always
said he never saw a man change so in four hours. He went out crouching
like a dog, his face over his shoulder, scared to death, and he came
back with his head up and a snap in his eye, looking as if he could whip
his weight in wildcats.
"'I'll go wid ye, an' thank ye all my life,' was all he said.
"Well, it got out around the village, and that night the other two
runaways--the man and wife--they were hiding in the town--gave
themselves up, and one of our neighbors bought them both and set them to
work on a plantation next to ours, and the driver went away happy.
"I was a little fellow then, running around barefooted, but I remember
meeting Aleck just as if it were yesterday. He was holding the horse
while my father and the overseer stood talking on one side. They were
planning his work and where he should sleep. I crept up to look at him.
I had heard he was coming and that he was a runaway slave.
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