n in his pocket, showing a set of
ivories that would have been the envy of any society belle in the land.

"Give it to me," and the Colonel reached his long arm out towards Sam,
the palm of his hand up. Sam placed the five dollars in it.

"Sam, I want to see you have your pleasure. Five dollars is less than I
ever charged for a carriage to a ball before. Being's it's you I'll let
it go fer that figure providin' you never mention to any person on earth
that you hired a conveyance from Colonel Charlotte."

"Yes, sah. I'll promise an' I'll neber tell airy livin' soul 'bout it,"
answered Sam, showing signs of fright.

The Colonel looked about to assure himself that there were no witnesses
and commanded Sam to raise his right hand and kneel on the ground. Sam
hesitated, the ground was wet and he had on his new store pants, but
down he knelt.

"Now swear by all the laws of reconstruction that if you ever tell you
rid in Colonel Charlotte's kerrige, you will be whipped by the Ku-Klux,
haunted by ghosts and burned by witches until you are dead and buried in
a grave as deep as hell."

The thoroughly frightened boy assented to the oath. The Colonel ordered
him to arise, get his company together, "mosey" down to where the big
road crossed the branch and wait until the carriage arrived.

The Colonel never entered the livery stable, content to leave the
conducting of the same to his help. However, he was not content to trust
the old family carriage to them. Ordering the horses hitched to the
sacred vehicle, the Colonel hastened to the house, "to plant the tin,
afore some dam Yankee carpet-bagger grabbed it," as he expressed it.

He returned to find the carriage ready for him. Two tallow dips burning
dimly in the big, old-fashioned lamps on either side of the driver's
seat were the admiration of the boys who lighted them. The Colonel
ordered them to "blow them thar candles out," saying that they only
blinded him. The real reason was that the Colonel did not desire any
light shed on the transaction that would disclose his part in it.

Once down the hill he halted the team under the big oak tree where four
dusky figures, two males and two females, stood. In a voice he intended
to sound other than his own, the Colonel ordered the waiting group to
"git in quick, pull down the curtains and don't airy dam niggers poke
your heads out till we git to Townsley's."

The horses moved off, the Colonel soliloquizing as they trotted along