lake, and requesting him to get another
head-overseer. But I got no reply, and I supposed he never received the
letter. When he came back in the fall, I found that he had, though; but
he said he supposed things would go on well enough. And so they did. The
supplies were all on hand, and there was nothing to do but to work the
place, raise the crop, and gather it.'

'But, after the death of Blake, and in the absence of Talbot, your want
of knowledge of the business must have worked you great inconvenience,'
I remarked.

'Not at all,' he replied; 'I knew next to nothing about it, it is true;
but the niggars did. [Tom _would_ call them _niggars_.] They understood
the business well enough, the most of them. Talbot knew nothing about it
himself, and he seemed to care less. These planters put every thing on
the overseers. They make them responsible for the crop; and the
overseers--they make the hands responsible.'

'Well, tell me something, now, of the operations of each day on the
plantation. How early did you get the hands at work in the morning?'

'In summer I called the hands at about four o'clock. They had half an
hour to get their feed and reach the field. I divided them into gangs of
from fifteen to thirty each, and appointed some one of the most
intelligent to oversee each gang. I then set them their tasks for the
day; and calling out Dick, or Jeff, or whatever his name might be that I
had appointed, I told him, in presence and hearing of his gang, that I
made him responsible for the work being done, and being well done; that
if the hands did not obey him, he should lick them, and make them do
their work. In this way I never had any difficulty in getting the work
done which I had set for them.

'When I had got them all at work, I rode from one part of the field to
another to see how they were getting along; and when the sun began to
get too hot, toward nine o'clock, I would go back to my quarters at the
house, get my breakfast, and then lounge about awhile, and finally lie
down and sleep through the heat of the day. After four or five o'clock
in the afternoon, I had my horse brought up by my servant--I had my own
servant, I told you; I had my boots blacked twice a day; had to keep up
the dignity of the institution, you know--I had my horse brought up, and
rode round to the different gangs.'

'But, Tom,' I inquired; 'I suppose you sometimes had to flog the
slaves?'

'Never touched a one of them, never! 'T wan't