Part 22 (2/2)

But captain Snipes had no turn for investigations of this sort

Knowledge, by intuition, was all that he cared for; and having it, by instinct, that an ”Englishainst liberty,”

nor an ”Aainst his own country,” he looked on them, to use his own phrase, as a ”pack of d--n-d rascals, who God service to kill wherever he could find theressor He kept in, very decently, till the ene, and hanging the poor whigs; and then, indeed, like a consu fire, his smothered hate broke forth:

”That hate which hurled to Pluto's gloon The souls of royal slaves untiht, to meet that shich had so often shi+vered their friends, they determined to take hi learned from their spies, that he was at hoht

His complete destruction, both of life and property, was their horrid aim

Happily, his driver, or black overseer, overheard their approach; and flying to his master with terror-struck looks, cries out ”Run! run! massa, run! de enemy 'pon you”

Snipes, stark naked, save his shi+rt, darted out as swift as his legs could carry him

”But where shall I run, Cudjo? into the barn?”

”Oh no, !”

”Well, where shall I run then?”

”Take de bush massa! take de briar bush”

Within fifty yards of the house was a cluhtened cat would scarcely have squeezed herself into it fros

But ill not fear enable aas he was, slipped into it with the facility of a weasel through the chinks of a chicken-coop; but lost every thread and thruot his hide so scratched and torn by the briers, that the blood trickled frooose

Scarcely had he gained his hiding-place, before the tories, with horrid oaths, burst into his house, with their guns cocked, ready to shoot hione: the nest was there, and war poor Cudjo by the throat, they bawled out: ”You d----d rascal, where's your master?”

He told them he did not know

”You lie! you black son of a b-t-h! you lie”

But he still asserted he knew nothing of histhat he s, they set fire to the house, his kitchen, his stables, and even his negro cabins, watching all the while, with their muskets ready to shoot hi place, the heat of his burning houses was so intense as to parch his skin into blisters But it was death to stir, for he would certainly have been seen

Not having ain seized Cudjo; and, with their cocked pieces at his breast, swore if he did not instantly tell them where his master was, they would put him to death

He still declared he did not knohere he was

Then they clapped a halter round his neck, and told him to ”down on his knees, and say his prayers at once, for he had but two minutes to live!”

He replied, that he ”did not want to say his prayers NOW, for that he was no thief, and had always been a true slave to his master”