The Conjure Woman, Charles W. Chesnutt [reading women txt] 📗

kin git it, en sleep ez long ez you mineter, ef you kin ’ford it, en whar you won’t hafter wuk ef you’d ruther go to jail.’

“ ‘But w’at is I gwine ter eat dyo’in’ er dis yer mont’ I’s trabblin’?’ ax’ Tobe. ‘It makes me sick ef I doan git my reg’lar meals.’

“ ‘Doan ax me,’ sez Aun’ Peggy. ‘I ain’ nebber seed de nigger yit w’at can’t fin’ sump’n ter eat.’

“Tobe scratch’ his head. ‘En whar is I gwine to sleep dyo’in’ er dat mont’? I’ll hafter hab my reg’lar res’.’

“ ‘Doan ax me,’ sez Aun’ Peggy. ‘You kin sleep in de woods in de daytime, en do yo’ trabblin’ at night.’

“ ‘But s’pose’n a snake bites me?’

“ ‘I kin gib you a cha’m fer ter kyo snake-bite.’

“ ‘But s’pose’n’ de patteroles ketch me?’

“ ‘Look a heah, nigger,’ sez Aun’ Peggy, ‘I’s ti’ed er yo’ s’pose’n’, en I’s was’e all de time on you I’s gwine ter fer two chick’ns. I’s feared you wants ter git free too easy. I s’pose you des wants ter lay down at night, do yo’ trabblin’ in yo’ sleep, en wake free in de mawn’in. You wants ter git a thousan’ dollah nigger fer nuffin’ en dat’s mo’ d’n anybody but de sma’test w’ite folks kin do. Go ’long back ter yo’ wuk, man, en doan come back ter me ’less’n you kin fetch me sump’n mo’.’

“Now, Tobe knowed well ernuff dat ole Aun’ Peggy’d des be’n talkin’ ter heah herse’f talk, en so two er th’ee nights later he tuk a side er bacon en kyared it down ter her cabin.

“ ‘Uh huh,’ sez Aun’ Peggy, ‘dat is sump’n lak it. I s’pose you still ’lows you’d lak ter be free, so you kin eat w’at you mineter, en sleep all you wanter, en res’ w’eneber you feels dat erway?’

“ ‘Yas’m, I wants ter be free, en I wants you ter fix things so I kin be sho’ ter git ter de Norf widout much trouble; fer I sho’ly does hate en ’spise trouble.’

“Aun’ Peggy studied fer a w’ile, en den she tuk down a go’d off’n de she’f, en sez she:⁠—

“ ‘I’s got a goopher mixtry heah w’at’ll tu’n you ter a b’ar. You know dey use’ter be b’ars roun’ heah in dem ole days.’

“Den she tuk down ernudder go’d. ‘En,’ she went on, ‘ef I puts some er dis yuther mixtry wid it, you’ll tu’n back ag’in in des a week er mont’ er two mont’s, ’cordin’ ter how much I puts in. Now, ef I tu’ns you ter a b’ar fer, say a mont’, en you is keerful en keeps ’way fum de hunters, you kin feed yo’se’f ez you goes ’long, en by de een’ er de mont’ you’ll be ter de Norf; en wen you tu’ns back you’ll tu’n back ter a free nigger, whar you kin do w’at you wanter, en go whar you mineter, en sleep ez long ez you please.’

“So Tobe say all right, en Aun’ Peggy mix’ de goopher, en put it on Tobe en turn’t ’im ter a big black b’ar.

“Tobe sta’ted out to’ds de Norf, en went fifteen er twenty miles widout stoppin’. Des befo’ day in de mawnin’ he come ter a ’tater patch, en bein’ ez he wuz feelin’ sorter hongry, he stop’ fer a hour er so ’tel he got all de ’taters he could hol’. Den he sta’ted out ag’in, en bimeby he run ’cross a bee-tree en eat all de honey he could. ’Long to’ds ebenin’ he come ter a holler tree, en bein’ ez he felt kinder sleepy lak, he ’lowed he’d crawl in en take a nap. So he crawled in en went ter sleep.

“Meanw’ile, Monday mawn’in’ w’en de niggers went out in de fiel’ ter wuk, Tobe wuz missin’. All de niggers ’nied seein’ ’im, en ole Mars Dugal sont up ter town en hi’ed some dawgs, en gun ’em de scent, en dey follered it ter ole Aun’ Peggy’s cabin. Aun’ Peggy ’lowed yas, a nigger had be’n ter her cabin Sad’day night, en she had gun ’im a cha’m fer ter keep off de rheumatiz, en he had sta’ted off down to’ds de ribber, sayin’ he wuz ti’ed wukkin’ en wuz gwine fishin’ fer a mont’ er so. De w’ite folks hunted en hunted, but co’se dey didn’ fin’ Tobe.

“Bout a mont’ atter Tobe had run ’way, en wen Aun’ Peggy had mos’ fergot ’bout im, she wuz sett’n’ in her cabin one night, wukkin’ her roots, wen somebody knock’ at her do’.

“ ‘Who dere?’ sez she.

“ ‘It’s me, Tobe; open de do’, Aun’ Peggy.’

“Sho’ ’nuff, w’en Aun’ Peggy tuk down de do’-bar, who sh’d be stan’in’ dere but Tobe.

“ ‘Whar is you come fum, nigger?’ ax’ Aun’ Peggy, ‘I ’lowed you mus’ be ter de Norf by dis time, en free, en libbin’ off’n de fat er de lan’.’

“ ‘You must ’a s’pected me ter trabbel monst’us fas’ den,’ sez Tobe, ‘fer I des sta’ted fum heah yistiddy mawnin’, en heah I is turnt back ter a nigger ag’in befo’ I’d ha’dly got useter walkin’ on all-fours. Dey’s sump’n de matter wid dat goopher er yo’n, fer yo’ cunj’in’ ain’ wuk right dis time. I crawled in a holler tree ’bout six o’clock en went ter sleep, en wen I woke up in de mawnin’ I wuz tu’nt back ag’in, en bein’ ez I hadn’ got no fu’ther ’n Rockfish Crick, I des ’lowed I’d come back en git dat goopher w’at I paid fer fix’ right.’

“Aun’ Peggy scratched her head en studied a minute, en den sez she:⁠—

“ ‘Uh huh! I sees des w’at de trouble is. I is tu’nt you ter a b’ar heah in de fall, en wen you come ter a holler tree you crawls in en goes ter sleep fer de winter, des lak any yuther b’ar’d do; en ef I hadn’ mix’ dat yuther goopher in fer ter tu’n you back in a mont’, you’d a slep’ all th’oo de winter. I had des plum’ fergot ’bout dat,