Part 14 (1/2)
”My 'pinion is ing all his batteries to bear ”Dis case hab two hinge, de fust is de 'spectability, and de second de safety Now, if any o on work ob dis a kind in de day time, when ebery body see ranny for a gal De night is de proper time for sich a dark business, and it suit e you, Missa Basset Now, de second hinge is de safety, and it 'stonishlike you, Missa Basset, should drea in de daytime Dere stand old Holden probumbly wid his rifle in deand all he hab to do, he see so plan, is to pull de trigger and den where is you, Missa Basset?
Or perhaps,” he added laughing, ”'stead ob shooting at you, he shoot at me, and dat would be bery onpleasant In de day-time, a colored pusson ht we has de advantage Ha!”
This was a view of things that did not please the constable at all, and the ro appealed excessively ill-timed He, therefore, said:
”Don't talk so, Prime; it's dreadful to hear you Well, if you're afraid, say so, and done with--”
”Me, 'fraid,” exclaimed Primus, ”me dat is as 'customed to de bullets as de roof to de rain! No, sar, you is better 'quainted wid de genlh,” said Basset, in whose an to fear he ether his new ally ”Everybody knows you're as brave as Julius Caesar, Prime”
”Please, sar, not to repair nant General ”De Caesars ob reat shakes I hab a better name dan dat My naenllorious Resolution I run soh de foolish doctor abusebote togedder dey enl to gib uess”
”A quarter ob a dollar! Do you s'pose I dispose myself to ketch cold on de ribber, and die afore my time, and arter dat to be shoot at, like a duck, for a quarter? I don't 'list on no such tarms”
”We'll say a half I'm inclined to be liberal, but I shall expect you to be lively, Priruot to help you?”
”Why, hain't two enough? I ive up the job at once, and done with it, if I'm to pay out all the fees”
”One eneral that he was, thought no odds could be too great against an ene to insist?”
”Toive him a cent”
”But,” said Pri, ”you no interjection, I guess, if it don't cost you noting”
”No,” replied Basset, as glad enough of another auxiliary, provided his own packet was not affected ”But, mind ye, I don't pay him a red cent”
”I pay hier won't be so enlmn, de business is settle”
They parted with the understanding that the General was to see Gladding and induce him to take part in the enterprise, and that the three wouldcareful to repeat that he couldn't afford ht be rendered Priement must have been satisfactory, for the three were all at the place of rendezvous at the appointed hour
CHAPTER XIII
”All these tales told in that dreamy undertone hich men talk in the dark, the countenances of the listeners only now and then receiving a casual glealare of a pipe, sunk deep in the end of Sleepy Hollow
It was on the village wharf that the coadjutorsof the General and the burly for had lowered above his an to appear It was a cause of special gratulation to him, which he realized more sensibly in the darkness than by day, that assistance so i's had been secured, and that without additional expense He was confident now of an easy victory The associates jumped into the boat, the painter was cast off, the constable, as principal, took the steersman's seat, and Toht was neither clear nor dark, or rather was both by fits and starts Light fleecy clouds were constantly passing over the heavens, now gathering densely together and co between the rifts then shi+ning points A loind softly h the leafless trees on the banks of the Severn, sadly chi in with the murmur of the tide, which rose quite up to the Falls of the Yaupaae In the indistinct light, just enough to sti away all those harshnesses which the garish brilliancy of day discloses, and inviting the ue and deficient, the village presented an appearance in of the river, and up the hill-sides, the lights scattered in every direction, and rising irregularly one above another, contended successfully with the struggling stars to light the way of the adventurers; while a low sound, the faint indication of life, hardly distinguishable froe, for it was yet early in the night, and imparted a sense of security by the consciousness of huradually, under the skillful strokes of the oars, the sounds becaht after another disappeared till, at a turn in the stream, the bold promontory of Oko of loneliness now, in spite of the presence of his two friends, began to creep over the constable So long as the lights had been visible, he felt a strength derived fros, as if, were anything untoward to happen, assistance was close at hand and ready to be proffered, but now he ht die a thousand deaths, and none be the wiser for his wretched end As these and other thoughts equally dish his mind, the silence became more and more oppressive (for it was only now and then, hitherto, a word had been uttered), and it ith an emotion of thankfulness and relief he heard it broken by the voice of Gladding
”I say, Priuess I does,” answered the black, speaking fro the stuether, ”I is on de river 'joying a roo white genlh for the ht be tords about that Sos has two handles”