"You know mighty well, Br'er Jerry, dat I ain't sech a talker ez ter git up an' say my say des dry so, an' let it go at dat. Howsomever, I laid off ter say sump'n, an' I ain't sorry you called my name. In what's been said dey's a heap dat I 'gree wid. I b'lieve dat de cullud folks oughter work tergedder, an' stan tergedder fer ter he'p an' be holped. But when you call on me fer ter turn my back on my marster, an' go to hatin' 'im, you'll hatter skuzen me. You sho will." "He ain't yo' marster now, Br'er Plato, an' you know it," said the Rev. Jeremiah. "I know dat mighty well," replied Uncle Plato, "but ef it don't hurt my feelin's fer ter call him dat it oughtn't ter pester yuther people. How it may be wid you all, I dunno; but me an' my marster wus boys tergedder. We useter play wid one an'er, an' fall out an' fight, an' I've whipped him des ez many times ez he ever whipped me--an' he'll tell you de same." "But all this," suggested Mr. Hotchkiss coldly, "has nothing to do with the matter in hand. The coloured race is facing conditions that amount to a crisis--a crisis that has no parallel in the world's history." "Dat is suttinly so!" the Rev. Jeremiah ejaculated, though he had but a dim notion of what Hotchkiss was talking about. "They have been made citizens," pursued the organiser, "and it is their duty to demand all their rights and to be satisfied with nothing less. The best men of our party believe that the rebels are still rebellious, and that they will seize the first opportunity to re-enslave the coloured people." "Ah-yi!" exclaimed the Rev. Jeremiah triumphantly. "Does you reely b'lieve, Br'er Jerry, dat Pulaski Tomlin will ever try ter put you back in slav'ry?" asked Uncle Plato. The inquiry was a poser, and the Rev. Jeremiah was unable to make any satisfactory reply. Perceiving this, Mr. Hotchkiss came to the rescue. "You must bear in mind," he blandly remarked, "that this is not a question of one person here and another person there. It concerns a whole race. Should all the former slave-owners of the South succeed in reclaiming their slaves, Mr. Tomlin and Mr. Clopton would be compelled by public sentiment to reclaim theirs. If they refused to do so, their former slaves would fall into the hands of new masters. It is not a question of individuals at all." "Well, suh, we'll fin' out atter awhile dat we'll hatter do like de white folks. Eve'y tub'll hatter stan' on its own bottom. I'm des ez free now ez I wuz twenty year ago----" "I can well believe that, after what you have said," Mr. Hotchkiss interrupted.