Poetry -- 20th century -- Periodicals; Short stories -- Periodicals
Up on the wharf we went and round the corner into a straggly kind of
road with old-fashioned houses on both sides of it. Nobody in the
yards, nobody at the windows; quiet as could be, except that off ahead,
somewheres, there was music playin’.
That road was a quarter of a mile long, but we galloped through it so
fast that the scenery was nothin’ but a blur. Booth was gainin’ all the
time, but I stuck to it like a good one. We took a short cut through a
yard, piled over a fence and come out into another road, and up at the
head of it was a crowd of folks--men and women and children and dogs.
“Stop thief!” I hollers, and ’way astern I heard Jonadab bellerin’:
“Stop thief!”
Montague dives headfust for the crowd. He fell over a baby carriage,
and I gained a tack ’fore he got up. He wa’n’t more’n ten yards ahead
when I come bustin’ through, upsettin’ children and old women, and
landed in what I guess was the main street of the place and right
abreast of a parade that was marchin’ down the middle of it.
Fust there was the band, four fellers tootin’ and bangin’ like fo’mast
hands on a fishin’ smack in a fog. Then there was a big darky totin’ a
banner with “Jenkins’ Unparalleled Double Uncle Tom’s Cabin Company,
Number 2,” on it in big letters. Behind him was a boy leadin’ two
great, savage-lookin’ dogs--bloodhounds, I found out afterward--by
chains. Then come a pony cart with Little Eva and Eliza’s child in it;
Eva was all gold hair and beautifulness. And astern of her was Marks,
the Lawyer, on his donkey. There was lots more behind him, but these
was all I had time to see jest then.
Now, there was but one way for Booth Hank to git acrost that street,
and that was to bust through the procession. And, as luck would have
it, the place he picked out to cross was jest ahead of the bloodhounds.
And the fust thing I knew, them dogs stretched out their noses and took
a long sniff, and then bu’st out howlin’ like all possessed. The boy,
he tried to hold ’em, but ’twas no go. They yanked the chains out of
his hands and took after that poet as if he owed ’em somethin’. And
every one of the four million other dogs that was in the crowd on the
sidewalks fell into line, and such howlin’ and yappin’ and scamperin’
and screamin’ you never heard.
Well, ’twas a mixed-up mess. That was the end of the parade. Next
minute I was racin’ across country with the whole town and the Uncle
Tommers astern of me, and a string of dogs stretched out ahead
fur’s you could see. ’Way up in the lead was Booth Montague and the
bloodhounds, and away aft I could hear Jonadab yellin’: “Stop thief!”
’Twas lively while it lasted, but it didn’t last long. There was a
little hill at the end of the field, and where the poet dove over
t’other side of it the bloodhounds all but had him. Afore I got to the
top of the rise I heard the awfullest powwow goin’ on in the holler,
and thinks I: “They’re eatin’ him alive!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account