Black Tom

“ Black Tom is generally most exemplary in the matter of cleanliness, personal or otherwise—there you have him again. And he is as proud as Lucifer—for he is quite well aware that he is good-looking. If he were a man, he is just the sort of fellow who would wear a well-fitting coat, spotless linen, and well-fitting boots and gloves, and part his hair in the centre without appearing a cad. You will seldom see cinder-holes in black Tom ”

“ Black Tom moved away with the silence and stealth that had characterized his approach to an Indian camp, frequently pausing and listening for some indication of the danger that he feared menaced them; but nothing reached his ears, save the dull, faint murmur of the stream behind as it rushed through its narrow cañon. ”

“ As he watched Black’s way of looking a new acquaintance straight in the eye, as if to discover what manner of man he was, and then of letting the other man take the lead in conversation instead of instantly and skillfully assuming the lead, as if he considered himself a born dictator of the thoughts and words of others—well—Tom said to himself once more that he was jolly glad Robert McPherson Black had come to this parish. ”

“ What was Black Tom’s amazement, when he saw at this moment that the rider was a woman, with an Indian shawl thrown around her shoulders! As if she suspected that some one was near her, she partly turned her head, at the instant her animal stepped upon the prairie, so that the profile of her face was plainly seen.
“Skulp me! ef she ain’t a white woman!” ”

“ Tom, the black cat, invariably retired to the hammock with his master. By day he rode on the saddle sometimes, or he might disappear altogether for half a day at a time. Black Tom was permitted to do precisely as he pleased, and that is the secret of his affection for White Tom.
Tom was never tired hearing Samaro tell all about Uncle Robert’s adventures, and, to a great extent, he determined to do very much as his uncle had done. ”

“ Black Tom was certain of it. It was about the size of a hen’s egg, very heavy, and bright and glistening. There could be no doubt of its nature.
He waded ashore again, and then “hefted” it, turned it over and over, tossed it in the air, caught it, smelled of it, put his tongue to it and was delighted.
Why should he not be delighted? Was not this what had brought him to this region? Was it not worth more than many days’ labor of trapping?
“That’s the fust crop!” he exclaimed, as he carefully put it away about his person; “and it follers that thar must be more of the same sort ’bout hyar.” ”

“ Nothing that Tom could have accomplished in a long life of effort could so crown that life with imperishable beauty, or so make it immortal. I rejoice with you, for the lad was my dear friend, and I can never forget him.
Faithfully yours,
Robert Black.
Late that night, when all was quiet in the ward, he wrote this same news to Jane. But at the end of his letter came other words, of such joy and thanksgiving as a man can write only when his heart is very full.
What you tell me of yourself goes to my deepest heart, as you must well know. I knew it would come—it had to come. ”

“ Thou hast once more been made a fool of. I have many times seen Black Tom. But thou shalt not go on the beast thou camest on. I will furnish thee another, for it must seem that thou didst escape on foot. Seek no more for the young lord. Flee into hiding and remain there. Dost thou promise me so to do? ”

“ As we stood around the heated cannon, in the great black solitude of the common, our fancies pictured this redoubtable young man once more among us—not in his blue uniform, with crimson sash and sword laid by his side, and the gauntlets drawn over his lifeless hands, but as a taller and glorified Tom, in a roundabout jacket and copper-toed boots, giving the law on this his playground. ”

“ As near as Black Tom could judge they had gone about five miles, and were ranging along the mountain-side, when he caught the glow of a light directly in front of the girl, and toward which she was manifestly traveling.
“Now I shall soon know something,” he muttered, as he saw the beacon, and allowed the distance between them somewhat to increase.
It was not long before he made the discovery that there was an Indian village ahead. He was not a little surprised at this, as he had never known of a tribe having their settlement in this place. ”

“ How they live? There’s a thing I can talk of as glib as Black Tom or any man. I’ll try it on her when I see her.”
“By the way,” said his partner listlessly, “just keep an eye on that man Ferguson. His hands arn’t very clean, you know, and he’s not scrupulous when he is aiming for anything. You remember how Dick Williams, of English Town, was found dead in the bush. Of course it was rangers that did it. They do say, however, that Black Tom owed him a deal more money than he could ever have paid. There’s been one or two queer things about him. Keep your eye on him, Abe. Watch what he does.” ”

“ In this neighborhood I am known by the name of the black woodsman. I am he to whom the red men consecrated this spot, and in honor of whom they now and then roasted a white man, by way of sweet-smelling sacrifice. Since the red men have been exterminated by you white savages, I amuse myself by presiding at the persecutions of Quakers and Anabaptists; I am the great patron and prompter of slave-dealers and the grand-master of the Salem witches."
"The upshot of all which is, that, if I mistake not," said Tom, sturdily, "you are he commonly called Old Scratch." ”

“ Tom broke into a laugh:
"Well, she can't take you by force."
"I don't know 'bout dat, sah. When any 'oman gits her min' sot she's dangous. But when a 'oman big an' black es she make up her min'!"
"Black!" Tom cried, squaring himself and looking Andy over: "Aren't you just a little shady?"
"Who? Me?—nasah! I ain't no black nigger!"
"No?"
"Nasah! I'se what dey calls er tantalizin' brown!"
"Oh, I see!"
"Yassah, I'se er chocolate-colored gemman—an' I nebber could stan' dese here coal-black niggers. Miss Minerva's so black she kin spit ink!" ”

“ Tom had a sober, benevolent smile, and seemed, in his quiet way, to be enjoying the fun quite as much as his little mistress. He lifted his eyes, when he saw his master, with a half-deprecating, apologetic air.
"How can you let her?" said Miss Ophelia.
"Why not?" said St. Clare.
"Why, I don't know, it seems so dreadful!"
"You would think no harm in a child's caressing a large dog, even if he was black; but a creature that can think, and reason, and feel, and is immortal, you shudder at; confess it, cousin. I know the feeling among some of you northerners well enough. ”

“ Tom, black as a thunder-cloud, waited for her.
'You're nothing but a little barbarian,' he said angrily under his breath. The life of others he led had been sorely wounded. 'I can never bring Mr. Halliday here again. You're simply not a lady.'
'I'm a bird,' she laughed in his face. 'And you men can never understand that, because no man has a bird in him, but only a creepy, crawly animal. We go on two legs, you on four.'
'I'm ashamed of you, Joan. You're nothing but a savage.' He snapped at her. ”

“ And then Frank King, despite the state of the streets and the absence of cabs, made his way along, and was eagerly welcomed. As Mr. Tom's companion he was to spend the whole day there. Billiards, music, lunch, painting—they would pass the time somehow. And meanwhile the gusts of wind rattled the windows; and the whirling snow blurred out the sea; and Mr. Tom kept on big fires.
Nan remained in her own room. When Madge went up to bring her down she found her reading Thomas à Kempis. ”

“ Black said, gathering up the photographs and prints as he spoke, “I believe I’ll have it done right away. [20] It’s the one thing that’ll make this big house seem a little more like home.”
“That’s right. And I can tell you a peach of a place—in fact I’ll take you there, if you want to go right now. It’s on our way back home. By the way—” young Tom glanced round the big bare room—“if there’s any stuff you want to get for the house to give it a kind of a jolly air, you know, you’ll find it right there, at Jane Ray’s. She can advise you, too.” ”

“ Tom shrank back, but too late. He had left his little Bible at the bottom of his coat-pocket, and his big Bible on the desk buried under the mortgage he was about to foreclose: never was sinner taken more unawares. The black man whisked him like a child into the saddle, gave the horse the lash, and away he galloped, with Tom on his back, in the midst of the thunderstorm. ”

“ Tom thanked her; and the woman, sitting down on the floor, drew up her knees, and embracing them with her arms, looked fixedly before her, with a bitter and painful expression of countenance. Her bonnet fell back, and long wavy streams of black hair fell around her singular and melancholy-face.
“It’s no use, my poor fellow!” she broke out, at last, “it’s of no use, this you’ve been trying to do. You were a brave fellow,—you had the right on your side; but it’s all in vain, and out of the question, for you to struggle. You are in the devil’s hands;—he is the strongest, and you must give up!” ”

“ He sought, therefore, to cultivate a further acquaintance with him, but for some time without success; the old black-legs played shy, for whatever people may think, he is not always to be had for calling for: he knows how to play his cards when pretty sure of his game.
At length, it is said, when delay had whetted Tom's eagerness to the quick, and prepared him to agree to anything rather than not gain the promised treasure, he met the black man one evening in his usual woodman's dress, with his ax on his shoulder, sauntering along the swamp, and humming a tune. ”

“ This speech was received with loud bursts of pleasure, mingled with cries of “Such would be the reward of a black warrior; such shall be the reward of the white chief.”
Tom, to whom this language was Greek, asked Mat to interpret it, and the meaning of the shouts, which our hero very conveniently and truthfully did,291 by telling him that they were making a great deal too much of his fight with Magan. “But then, you see, they do love a good fight.” ”

“ Tom stretched out his legs—his hands were in his pockets—and said, contemplatively,—
'So you thought Madge was the same as Nan. I could have told you different, if you had asked me. You thought you could find another girl like Nan. If you want to try, you'll have to step out. By the time you've found her, the Wandering Jew 'll be a fool compared to you. Girls like Nan don't grow on every blackberry bush.'
'I know that,' said Frank King, with a sigh. ”

“ Sandy, closer by several glasses to the moment, Tom saw, when he would be suddenly drunk, gave birth again, a tale this time of a Scottish planter who had brutally dismissed a native servant for no other reason than that he disliked him. The man disappeared completely, but the villagers hinted that he would⁠—soon indeed that he had⁠—come back, though “not quite as he went.” The planter armed, knowing that vengeance might be violent. A black panther, meanwhile, was seen prowling about the bungalow. ”

“ Isn't that it?"
"Well, cousin," said Miss Ophelia, thoughtfully, "there may be some truth in this."
"What would the poor and lowly do, without children?" said St. Clare, leaning on the railing, and watching Eva, as she tripped off, leading Tom with her. "Your little child is your only true democrat. Tom, now is a hero to Eva; his stories are wonders in her eyes, his songs and Methodist hymns are better than an opera, and the traps and little bits of trash in his pocket a mine of jewels, and he the most wonderful Tom that ever wore a black skin. ”

“ Young Tom always remembered how his dad had looked when brother Bill was shot.
The second brother was overtaken while riding a big sorrel horse that did not happen to carry the 4 Lorrigan brand. So he too died with the smell of powder smoke in his nostrils, taking three of his pursuers with him into the Dark Land. Him Tom’s father cursed for being caught.
So young Tom learned early two lessons of the Black Rim book of wisdom: His gun must never stick in the holster; he must never get caught by the law. ”

“ We've got ter keep right on till we puts an end ter all of em."
Black Tom was so inconsiderate as to burst in a raucous laugh of ridicule. "Hit usen't ter be so damn' hard ter kill one man," was his unfeeling comment. ”

“ When we can love and pray over all and through all, the battle's past, and the victory's come,—glory be to God!" And, with streaming eyes and choking voice, the black man looked up to heaven.
And this, oh Africa! latest called of nations,—called to the crown of thorns, the scourge, the bloody sweat, the cross of agony,—this is to be thy victory; by this shalt thou reign with Christ when his kingdom shall come on earth.
The deep fervor of Tom's feelings, the softness of his voice, his tears, fell like dew on the wild, unsettled spirit of the poor woman. ”

“ PLAIN AS A PIKESTAFF ROBERT BLACK was dressing for a dinner—a men’s dinner, to which Samuel Lockhart had invited him, and Tom Lockhart had commanded him.
“You see, I’ve got to be there,” Tom had explained. “And Dad always asks a lot of ponderous old personages who bore you to death—or else make you red with rage at some of their fossil ideas. The only thing that saves the case for me to-night is that you’re coming. ”

“ Whose death did he seek to compass now? What was the Confederate spy doing here? Tom had scarcely glimpsed the hawk-like features, the pallid face, the flowing black hair of his foe, when Booth disappeared from his sight in the crowded lobby of the theater.
Instantly Tom pursued him. But he was delayed by the little group through whom Booth had elbowed his rough way. And when he reached the ticket-window, he found no money in his pocket with which to buy admittance. He had put on civilian clothes that evening and had left his scanty store of currency in his uniform. ”