Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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night flyah -- A knife, you trash ! to which the gutteral voice returned, 'tDrop that gun ! V ' A shot,--a confusion of noises,-silence followed until a negro broke out from the trees. The momentary exposure before he turned and crashed back into the woods, allowed the little fat man to recognize him. For an instant this accidental member of the Dramatis Persona: stood ir- resolute, then, even in his half-paralyzed mental condition obeying the auto- matic impulse toward flight, he ran. His tin pail, elattering clown upon the rocky ground, rolled with a splash into the water. Once out from the grasping shadows of the eedars he swerved around the corner, and now he could see before him at the end of the hilly road the village of Bellevue. The Great House loomed above it, grey, vague, dismal against the pink streaks of the sunset sky. On the other side of the Black River Bridge, the runner stumbled, was up again,'caught his foot and fell. The shock cleared his brain. As he pulled himself to his feet he found that he had tripped before the gatway of the Villa. He could half desery the house far back from the road, partly obscured by trees. A light glim- mered from an upper window. The little fat man turned in at the gate and hurried up the walk, looking fearfully over his shoulder to the dark patch of woods at his right. Through the gathering dusk the glow of a pipe shone from the porch. Toward this the newcomer directed an excited salutation as he panted up the steps, Howdy, J eff Platt. ,Why, howdy, Twang, drawled the smoker, not shifting his position in a chair that balanced on two legs. He was a lounging big fellow, seen in the twilight, with a reckless insolence of manner. He spoke slowly, smoothly, his tone half-sneering in its deliberateness. To a time-saving man his iirst words would carry the psychologic sugges- tion of a thrashing. Still his voice possessed a soft liquidness, mellowing even Twang's harsh name. Only your true Southerner slips over speech with that caressing sweetness. Like his father and mother and playmates he ac- quired its gliding ease from the songs and stories of a darkey mammy. When J efferson Platt entered Boonville Military Academy, a Wiscon- sin boy told him he talked like a nigger. I'd a powerful lot soonah talk lak a niggah, he swore hotly, than lak a damned Yankee! Where's dat lame niggah o' yo' all's, J eff Platt? demanded Twang, dropping down upon the top step in answer to the other's invitation to have a seat. He was turned sideways facing the woods. His host followed his gaze, got up almost immediately and leaned against a pillar looking down into the excited eyes of his visitor. What do you want with that ole worf- less Ephram, Twang? Lost a chicken or a watermilyon'I U Twang was far from facetious. Staring across the fields he did not answer. . ' Well, out with it, ordered Platt abruptly. They's somethin' ovah in yo' alls' woodsf' He pointed. Ephram saw it. He came streakin' out after the shot and skunked back 'fo' I could yell. Jeff Platt, they 's some devilishness up. I More coherently afterwards he told his adventure, the force of his suspicions growing as they were put into words. p 12

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Twang, deliberated Platt when his guest had inished, Ephram's an ole man. He's lazed roun' heah yeahs an' yeahs, an' I' mistrust he'll stay on a spell yet. , Jes you come an' see yoself, you don' believe me. You, a Platt, standin' up foh a lame old niggah who orter hung when he couldn't a' touched ground, swingin' from a red-haw tree, befoh yo Pa stirred up murder with his eye-glasses and his lies. Jeff relighted his cold pipe. His silence baited Twang, who got to his ieet. l Bf Ephram's hidin' 'round heah, you all 'd better recomember Judge ync 1. ' 1,11 Who's that you threaten, you low-down trash? Get off this porch or 71 Instantly Twang's hand was on his revolver. I-Iere he contested with no mystery, no woods, only a man. Platt 's eye flashed. Drop that gun, he thundered. V The hard steel clattered against the steps. Twang's face was dead- white. 'fMy God ! hc gasped, Ovah theh just as he fihed-I heard it-a kindah thick voice-'Drop that gun.' Platt brought his hand down upon the speaker 's shoulder. Man, he said, intensely, you heahed nothin', nothin', you ah mad! Then his grip relaxed and he laughed. You and me will get a job with the trained seals, ma chipmunk, an' leave these pahts. We all ah too ex- citin' foh Bellevue. Just you wait, I'll get a headlight and we'll light the woods like noon. As he returned he caught Twang's muttered- They's some devilish- ness heah. The two men walked in silence except for the occasional expression of Twang's busy thoughts. That lame Ephraim, he said once, could 'a' cut 'cross lots to you all's woodshed befoh I got round to the Bridge. They don 't seem no use in lookin' now. It 's too dark. Indeed by this time the night had settled over the trees and the short walk across the fields brought themto a dense gloom of woods. When they stepped into the shadows, Platt stopped abruptly. Feeling Twang's fearful clutch on his arm he flung the little man off. Ilet's go tell the town, come on ! Then he fled, Twang with difficulty matching his long strides. Half an hour had passed since the shot. The leisurely moon was rising when a lawless mob broke into the woods, scattering in noisy, bragging parties. Their lanterns gleaming and glancing among the tree-trunks soon converged in a circle of light around the body of John Lester. They carried him to the Villa, and when they had laid him in the parlor, shouted to the master of the house for whiskey and hot water. But Jefferson Platt was nowhere to be found. That next morning a handful of church-goers met ugly-looking bands of armed men who, tempted from their Sunday dinners by the offer of a liberal reward, were beating up and down the country. They supposed that Ephram was making for the city forty miles to the west, for some distance away in that direction a small boy gave a drink to an old exhausted-looking darkey, and through the fields they found apple-cores, thehot ashes of a fire, and corncobs with the kernels half gnawed away. Meanwhile in Bellevue, it was surmised with considerable certainty 14