ng about.

About half-way to Bairdstown we stopped at a place to get a drink of
water. Seemingly the white folks was away fur the day, and an old nigger
come up and talked to our driver while Sam and us was at the well.

I seen them cutting their eyes at us, whilst they was unchecking the
hosses to let them drink too, and then I hearn the one that belonged
there say:

"Is yo' SUAH dat hit air dem?"

"SUAH!" says the driver.

"How-come yo' so all-powerful SUAH about hit?"

The driver pertended the harness needed some fixing, and they went
around to the other side of the team and tinkered with one of the
traces, a-talking to each other. I hearn the old nigger say, kind of
wonderized:

"Is dey a-gwine dar NOW?"

Sam, he was pulling a bucket of water up out of the well fur us with a
windlass. The doctor says to him:

"Sam, what does all this mean?"

Sam, he pertends he don't know what the doctor is talking about.
But Doctor Kirby he finally pins him down. Sam hemmed and hawed
considerable, making up his mind whether he better lie to us or not.
Then, all of a sudden, he busted out into an awful fit of laughing, and
like to of fell in the well. Seemingly he decided fur to tell us the
truth.

From what Sam says that there bishop has been holding revival meetings
in Big Bethel, which is a nigger church right on the edge of Bairdstown,
and niggers fur miles around has been coming night after night, and some
of them whooping her up daytimes too. And the bishop has worked himself
up the last three or four nights to where he has been perdicting and
prophesying, fur the spirit has hit the meeting hard.

What he has been prophesying, Sam says, is the coming of a Messiah fur
the nigger race--a new Elishyah, he says, as will lead them from out'n
their inequality and bring 'em up to white standards right on the spot.
The whites has had their Messiah, the bishop says, but the niggers ain't
never had none of their SPECIAL OWN yet. And they needs one bad, and one
is sure a-coming.

It seems the whites don't know yet jest what the bishop's been
a-preaching. But every nigger fur miles on every side of Big Bethel is
a-listening and a-looking fur signs and omens, and has been fur two,
three days now. This here half-crazy bishop has got 'em worked up to
where they is ready to believe anything, or do anything.

So the night before when the word got out in Cottonville that we had
some scheme to make the niggers white, the nigge