is make forty t'ousand dish you break, Mari', sin' you
war' a young woman. S'pose you t'ink Masser made of plate, dat you
break 'em up so! Dat what ole Plin say--de nigger! He say all men made
of clay, and plate made of clay, too--well, bot' clay, and bot'
_break_. All on us wessels, and all on us break to pieces some day,
and den dey'll t'row _us_ away, too."

A general laugh succeeded this touch of morality, Great Smash being a
little addicted to ethical remarks of this nature; after which the war
was renewed on the subject of the broken crockery. Nor did it soon
cease; wrangling, laughing, singing, toiling, a light-heartedness that
knew no serious cares, and affection, making up the sum of the everyday
existence of these semi-civilized beings. The presence of the party in
the valley, however, afforded the subject of an episode; for a negro
has quite as much of the _de haut en bas_ in his manner of viewing
the aborigines, as the whites have in their speculations on his own
race. Mingled with this contempt, notwithstanding, was a very active
dread, neither of the Plinys, nor of their amiable consorts, in the
least relishing the idea of being shorn of the wool, with shears as
penetrating as the scalping-knife. After a good deal of discussion on
this subject, the kitchen arrived at the conclusion that the visit of
the major was ordered by Providence, since it was out of all the rules
of probability and practice to have a few half-clad savages get the
better of "Masser Bob," who was born a soldier, and had so recently
been fighting for the king.

On the latter subject, we ought to have stated that the captain's
kitchen was ultra-loyal. The rude, but simple beings it contained, had
a reverence for rank and power that even a "rebbelushun" could not
disturb, and which closely associated, in their minds, royal authority
with divine power. Next to their own master, they considered George
III, as the greatest man of the age; and there was no disposition in
them to rob him of his rights or his honours.

"You seem thoughtful, Woods," said the captain, while his son had
retired to his own room, in order to assume a disguise less likely to
attract attention in the garrison than a hunting-shirt. "Is it this
unexpected visit of Bob's that furnishes food for reflection?"

"Not so much his visit, my dear Willoughby, as the news he brings us.
God knows what will befall the church, should this rebellion make
serious head. The country