“Soon after Tite lef de house de elements gut wrong. De clouds gather’d thick an’ hang mighty low in de Wes’. I coul’ hear de thunderin’ an’ see de lightnin’. I never seed sich a dark night. But, after de bigges’ rain dat I ever seed fell, de clouds ’clare ’way an’ de moon come out. “When Tite wuz gone an’ de rain wuz over I went to sleep an’ knowed no mo’ till I heerd peoples talkin’ an’ cussin’, an’ it soun’ des lak dey wuz outside my do’. It wuz den after midnight, I spec’. I coul’ hear de low whisperin’ voices on fust one side uv de house, den de tuther. I heerd horses movin’ ’bout, an’ den I knowed dat it wuz de Ku Kluxes. I heerd one man say: ‘Well, we’ll go in here an’ see ef de black rascal’s come yit. But I don’t see how he coul’ uv haided us off.’ “’Bout dat time dere wuz a tap on de do’, an’ a call, ‘Matt, open de do’. We want to see if Tite’s in dere. We won’t hurt you ef you let us in, an’ ef you don’t we are comin’ in anyhow. We’ll break de do’.’ “I wuz wide awake but say nuthin’. “‘Matt! Matt! Don’t you hear?’ I coul’n’t tell de voice but I knowed ef I didn’t open de do’ dey woul’ break it down; so I open it an’ git back in bed. When de do’ come open it peered to me lak I seed a whole lot uv hosses in de road an’ lots uv men in de yard, dressed in red shirts an’ had on dese here false faces. I wuz skeered an’ den I wuzn’t, fur de man whut do de talkin’ had a mighty fermilyer lak voice to me, but I des coul’n’t say who’s it wuz. Dey peered to b’lieve me when I told ’em dat Tite wuzn’t dere, but dey searched anyhow to make sartin’. “After dey can’t find him an’ dey start out de man what spoke befo’ say: ‘Well, Matt, we give de ole devil a good run, an’ would’ve swung him up ef we’d ketched him, but it’s late now an’ we’d better go.’ “Den I say: ‘Please, marster, don’t kill him fur he’s des gone crazy ’bout dis here ’lection bizness what dem strange white foks put in his haid. Don’t, boss man, fur my sake, kill de ole nigger. He’ll come right. I’s tried to git him to stay at home. Now des let me try him one mo’ time. Ax Marse John Robinson an’ Marse Jeems Walkup ’bout Matt. Dey knows me. I’s been good since s’render, an’ I’s tried to make Tite behave hissef. So, Mister, won’t you let him off dis time?’ “De same man what spoke befo’ ’low: ‘Well, boys, I b’lieve dis is a good nigger, an’ on her ’count we’ll let de Parson ’lone fur a few days an’ see. Ef we hear uv any mo’ uv his doin’s, ’citin’ de niggers an’ makin’ speeches, we’ll do him des lak we did Ole Joe Grier, or wuss. Ef he hadn’t run lak er deer t’night, we’d broke his neck. Let’s go back to Souf Careliny, an’ res’.’ [Illustration: _Tite; riding a Democratic Ox._] “Dis said, dey rode off. I wuz skeered dat Tite wuz daid, an’ coul’n’t sleep no mo’ dat night, but wuz too bad ’frighten’ to git up. “Way in de mornin’, toge day, when all gits quiet, I heered a soft knock at de do’. I knowed it mus’ be Tite, so I gits up an’ opens it, an’ sho’ nuff it wuz him.