"What made him come here?" "He didn't. The slave traders put him in chains and brought him across the sea and sold him into slavery." The little body suddenly stiffened: "Why didn't he kill 'em?" "He didn't know how to defend himself." "Why don't he run away?" "He hasn't sense enough, I reckon. He's got a home, plenty to eat and plenty to wear, and he's afraid he'll be caught and whipped." The mother had to pull the Boy with her into the quilting room. His eyes followed the negro to the stable with a strange fascination. The thing that puzzled him beyond all comprehension was why a big strong man like that, if he were a man, would submit. Why didn't he fight and die? A curious feeling of contempt filled his mind. This black thing that looked like a man, walked like a man and talked like a man couldn't be one! No real man would grin and laugh and be a slave. The black fool seemed to be happy. He had not only grinned and laughed, but he went away whistling and singing. In three hours the quilts were finished and the men had gathered for the corn-shucking. Before eight o'clock the last ear was shucked, and a long white pile of clean husked corn lay glistening in the moonlight where the dark pyramid had stood at sunset. With a shout the men rose, stretched their legs and washed their hands in the troughs filled with water, provided for the occasion. They sat down to supper at four long tables placed in the kitchen and work room, where the quilts had been stretched. Never had the Boy seen such a feast--barbecued shoat, turkeys, ducks, chickens, venison, bear meat, sweet potatoes, wild honey, corn dodgers, wheat biscuit, stickies and pound cake--pound cake until you couldn't eat another mouthful and still they brought more! After the supper the young folks sang and danced before the big fires until ten o'clock, and then the crowd began to thin, and by eleven the last man was gone and the harvest festival was over. It was nearly twelve before the Boy knelt at his mother's knee to say his prayers. When the last words were spoken he still knelt, his eyes gazing into the flickering fire. The mother bent low: "What are you thinking about, Boy? The house you're going to build for me?" "No." "What?" "That nigger--wasn't he funny? You don't want me to get you any niggers with the house do you?" "No." "I didn't think you would," he went on thoughtfully, "because you said General Washington set his slaves free and wanted everybody else to do it too." He paused and shook his head thoughtfully. "But he was funny--he was laughin' and whistlin' and singin'!" V