Hitch

“ Dude assured him. “All de niggers wucks in de big mill dresses jes’ like you is now. Dainty will figger dat you is a sawmill hand. Talk right up to her, Revun”——
“I ain’t no preacher!” Hitch interrupted, growling like an angry bear. “I’s a prize-fighter.”
“Dat won’t do,” Dude chuckled, as he looked at the giant’s mighty arms and shoulders. “Dainty is powerful sot on preachers. I ’speck you better be one as long as you is hangin’ aroun’ her.”
“All right,” Hitch said reluctantly, as he started away. “I ain’t none too good or too proud to piddle wid dat job—ef I got to.” ”

“ Hitch fell, and men stepped on him. All men slipped and slid in blood, crushed each other, dragged each other down, struck each other—and all heaved and cursed and shouted and hammered and tore at the shuddering tangle of human flesh and bone. ”

“ It was too high up to be vitally effective, but powerful enough to bring a black veil of unconsciousness across Conko’s mind. All faces vanished for a second; even Hitch Diamond disappeared; then when Hitch reappeared, Conko pecked savagely at his stomach.
Hitch panted like a winded dog; they clinched, and Hitch, with his gorilla reach, pounded his enemy over the kidneys.
“Hey, dar! Break ’em! No fair hittin’ in clinches!” the crowd of Conko backers yelled.
Vinegar Atts grinned, yanked the pair out of the clinch, and a wolflike howl rose from the crowd. ”

“ Atter I come in, you say to Dainty dat she better gimme a dram because I’s so crippled up. Of co’se, she will hab to be manners an’ gib you some, too.”
“Dar, now!” Hitch boomed. “You shore is a smart boy, Dude. Dat plan is accawdin’ to de Bible, wise as suppents an’ harmless as ducks. But”——
Here Hitch broke off and looked down at his clothes.
“It ’pears to me it ain’t proper to call on a lady when I is barefooted an’ ain’t got nothin’ on but a pair of pants an’ a red undershirt,” he mourned. ”

“ Dinner Gaze was listening with great interest to Hitch’s talk.
“I ain’t went to N’Awleens befo’ fer mighty nigh five year,” said Hitch as he extracted a long Perique stogie from the side-pocket of his gorgeous yellow waistcoat.
Dinner Gaze reached out, took the stogie from Hitch’s giant hand, and tossed it out of the window. He handed the pugilist a big, fat cigar with a broad gold band, and grinned in a friendly way. Then he said in his low, gentle voice:
“Ef you wants me to set by you, don’t smoke no roll of rags an’ garbage. Take a real seegar!” ”

“ Hitch narrated, drawing upon his imagination, and recalling an incident in the career of his friend, the Reverend Vinegar Atts. “Atter dat I felt a call to preach.”
“Mebbe you could come back,” Gaze suggested.
“Naw, suh,” Hitch grinned, quoting a remark he had heard Vinegar make. “Preachin’ is a plum’ sight safer. I kin git up befo’ a lot of 279 Christyums an’ knock noses an’ pull hair an’ skin shins all I’m got a mind to, an’ all dey kin do is to turn aroun’ de yuther cheek. Ef dey hits back, dey ain’t pious!” ”

“ He leaned over the porch railing; looked back toward the rear of the house; cupped his hands around his mouth like a trumpet, and bellowed:
“Oh, Hitch! Come here! Hear me!”
“Yes, suh, white folks! Comin’! Comin’ wid a looseness; comin’ right now!” 8
Hitch came, but he chose a very unusual route—through the house. Arriving at the door which admitted him to the porch where Gaitskill sat, he stopped, peeped at Gaitskill, then peeped at Diada, and ducked back into the room.
“Come here, Hitch!” Gaitskill commanded.
“Excuse me, Marse Tom,” Hitch muttered. “I’s axin’ you whut you wants?” ”

“ Hitch asked.
“Dey calls me Dude Blackum because I got a gold tooth,” the other informed him.
“Whut is yo’ wife called?” Hitch asked next.
“Dainty.”
“I wants to make a little trade, Dude,” Hitch remarked, after he had told his own name. “Dese here socks costed me two dollars. My head ain’t thinkin’ right to-day. You is a heavy thinker. Ef you kin think up a sketch of how I kin git a dram right now, I’ll bestow dese here socks on you.”
“De trade is did!” Dude grinned, showing his gold tooth. “Lemme think!”
“Bawl out, nigger!” Hitch grumbled after a little wait. ”

“ In a moment Diada’s eyes changed to a milder expression, and Gaitskill patted her on the shoulder about as he would caress the side of a horse. Seeing this, Hitch crept up nearer, put out his hand and touched Diada’s wrist. 10
“She feels like a shore-’nuff, nachel-bawn nigger, Marse Tom,” he exclaimed. “Kin she talk?”
“Yes,” Gaitskill told him. “But she can’t talk our language, Hitch. She hasn’t been in this country long. You’ll have to make signs to her and talk to her that way.”
“Ax her to say somepin’, Marse Tom!” Hitch begged. “Lemme hear how she sounds!” ”

“ At the Hen-Scratch saloon they found Hitch Diamond, Prince Total, and Pap Curtain.
“Whut ails you-alls?” Hitch inquired curiously as he gazed into the frightened faces of his three friends. “You niggers look like you is jes’ foun’ out you wus borned to die!” 243
“Dat’s a fack, Hitch,” Skeeter sighed, as he and his two companions seated themselves on a bench. “Us is all had bad dreams.” ”

“ Again he saw her staggering down the street, the blood reddening the front of her dress and making a red froth upon her lips, as she stood in front of the jail tossing dust into the air, gyrating, shrieking, 349 cursing, and wailing, “Good-by, Hitch! Good-by, Hitch!”
What a mother for any man to have!
Skeeter staggered across the courthouse yard, wiping the clammy sweat from his temples.
“Marse John made me promise not to tell nobody who Hitch’s maw is. Ef I wus to tell dat fack, de white folks would hang Hitch Diamond befo’ night. Dat’s de awfullest fack agin him yit!” ”

“ Hitch sighed as he gazed upon them fondly. “I could swap ’em off in Sawtown, but I ain’t gwine back dar no more. Ef I does, some nigger will steal my pants an’ my socks, too. Plenty of country niggers is got dram.”
He walked barefooted through the woods and came out at a level plantation some distance back from the river. In the middle of a cow-pasture, a tall, brown, bright-eyed negro watched Hitch approach with impassive curiosity. 288
“Howdy, my brudder!” Hitch boomed. “How am yo’ soul an’ spirit dis day?”
“De spirit is pretty low, elder,” the farmer replied. ”

“ Hitch replied. “I been livin’ aroun’ in dis part of de worl’ all my life, an’ I ain’t never seed dat big saw-mill town yit. ’Tain’t been but ’bout fo’ year ago dat Sawtown started off—when dey sot dat big mill dar in de woods.”
“I’s proud I met up wid you, Revun,” Dinner Gaze said. “I lives in Sawtown, an’ I’ll show you all de good p’ints in de place.”
Hitch opened his mouth to deny that he was a preacher, but the negro’s natural love of the game of make-believe prevented him. His slow mind evolved the humor of the situation, and he bestowed a pious smile upon the man beside him. ”

“ Vinegar asked timidly, “is you got any shore an’ certain hopes of heaven?”
“Dat’s right! Git pussonal!” Hitch applauded.
But Diada steadfastly refused to make any confession of faith.
“Ax her is she committed any sins!” Hitch suggested. “Git pussonal!”
“Looky here, Hitch!” the preacher complained. “I don’t know how dis cullud pusson sets her table an’ I’s skeart I’ll fall in de soup. Whut’s de use axin’ pussonal inquirements when a feller don’t git no kind of respondunce nohow?” ”

“ To make this, pass the end of rope around the spar or timber, then over itself; over and around the spar, and pass the end under itself and between rope and spar, as shown in the illustration.
The Clove hitch with ends knotted becomes the "Gunners' Knot" (Fig. 37) . These are among the most valuable and important of knots and are useful in a thousand and one places. The Clove hitch will hold fast on a smooth timber and is used extensively by builders for fastening the stageing to the upright posts. ”

“ Hitch informed him. “Ef us walks out to’des de swamp, ’pears to me we mought meet up wid her an’ git real good acquainted.”
“Dat’s good argufyin’,” Vinegar responded, reaching for his hat. “Whut do she look like?”
“Her looks like us niggers—only ’bout fawty’leben times more!” Hitch told him.
“Kin she talk?”
“Yes, suh, but a feller cain’t ketch on to nothin’ she specifies. It’s a kind of jibber-jabber monkeytalk dat lubricates a whole lot, but it don’t show whar at!” Hitch informed him, wondering at the same time how she really did talk—for Hitch had never heard a sound from her throat. ”

“ But a new thing, a great hitch, had happened yesterday in the gliding and noiseless current of his life, and he felt as a snake must feel who has sloughed off its winter skin, and cannot understand the brightness and sensitiveness of its new one. ”

“ A slippery hitch, we may as well inform our readers, is a species of slipknot tied in the lanyard which connects the clews and the hook in the beam. It appears all right to a casual observer, but when the victim gets into his hammock his weight begins to tell, and the knot slips away and precipitates the sleeper on to the deck. ”

“ When Jack stopped, a laugh went up from all around, for it was plain to see that the men were in sympathy with Hitch. This made the fellow feel inclined to go a step further, for he felt bold when he saw Jack pause.
“If you don’t put the boat’s head to the shore,” said he, “I’ll pull out the plug, anyhow!”
“Tom,” cried Jack, passionately, “give me the tiller; if they will drown for a pack of lubberly fools, let them drown and be ——d!” [110]
“For heaven’s sake, Jack!” cried Tom; “think what you’re about. You’ll drown us all. Let me hold the tiller!” ”

“ Where increased strength is required a small rope can be attached to a larger one by means of a rolling hitch. The whole arrangement comes apart as soon as the strain is removed.
No. 41. A method of lifting scaffold poles in a vertical position by the use of the timber hitch and half hitch. If it is required to free the upper end while the pole is being carried, the half hitch can be replaced by a cord tied round the pole and the lifting rope.
90
CHAPTER VI
SCAFFOLDING ACCESSORIES AND THEIR USE Ladders.—A ladder consists of a pair of sides connected by a series of oak or ash treads or rungs. ”

“ Gaitskill assured him. “What’s the matter with you? Diada is just a nigger woman like Hopey.”
“Mebbe so suh,” Hitch mumbled. “But she shore don’t look like Hopey in looks.”
“Take her around to the kitchen and give her something to eat,” Gaitskill commanded.
“Yes, suh,” Hitch answered obediently, but his tone expressed the exact denial of his words, and he 9 stood right where he was. “Yes, suh; I’ll fetch her aroun’ to de kitchen—er, uh—atter while—soon’s I kin git aroun’ to it. Ole miss tole me to go down to de sto’house right now——”
“She told you nothing of the sort!” ”

“ Hitch asked earnestly.
“Dat’s whut yo’ job is right now—find dat nigger woman!”
“Whut’ll I do when I gits her?”
“Cote her servigerous!” Skeeter informed him. “Find out whar she keeps dat money. Ax her whut’s she gwine do wit it!”
“Dat looks like a dangersome woman to me,” Hitch remarked uneasily. “Whar do she come from, Skeeter?”
“Gawd knows!” the barkeeper answered. “I’s heerd her say somepin ’bout Baton Rouge. Mebbe she stays dar. She made google eyes at me in de grand stan’ an’ I tuck up wid her.” 288
“I’ll go out and make inquirements an’ see whut I kin do,” Hitch said. ”

“ Shin met Hitch Diamond and presented his proposition to him. Hitch laughed at him.
“Three hosses starts in dat race, Shin,” Hitch chuckled. “Doodlebug b’longs to Pap Curtain, Skipper b’longs to Pap’s sister, an’ de yuther hoss is de plug whut Prince Total drives to his trash cart when he cleans up dis town. Now, kin you tell me which one of Pap’s two hosses is de winner?”
Shin did not answer.
“I ain’t bettin’ on nothin’ in de fourth race,” Hitch rumbled, as he walked away. “I ain’t got spry enough brains to foller Pap’s tricks.” ”

“ Vinegar commented. “Ax her somepin ’bout her kinnery!”
“Wus yo’ maw an’ paw feelin’ tol’able when you seed ’em las’?” Hitch inquired timidly.
To all appearances Diada had not heard.
“Mebbe all her kinnery’s in jail,” Vinegar declared. “Anyway, she don’t wanter talk about ’em. Stop axin’ fool questions, Hitch! You put yo’ foot in it eve’y time you opens yo’ mouf!”
“Looky here, Revun!” Hitch retorted in irate tones. “I fotch you out here wid me to cornvert dis here heathen. You brag yo’ brags dat you could, now lemme see you git at it! ”

“ In fact, Hitch Diamond and Vinegar Atts called upon Marse Tom Gaitskill and made themselves such nuisances that Gaitskill locked them both up in an empty corn-crib and turned the water-hose on them.
Death had no terrors for these people on Christmas Day. 97
“Huh!” Hitch Diamond bellowed. “I wouldn’t be skeart to-day even ef de Revun Dr. Sentelle hadn’t made us such a purty speech. I done separated my idears from my habits!”
“I ain’t skeart, neider!” Vinegar Atts whooped. “Nobody ain’t gwine pat me in de face wid a spadeful of dirt!”
Christmas baskets came to every cabin ”

“ Red Cutt was appalled by the thought of what might happen to him if that mob of negroes insisted upon his giving a trial flight.
“Come on, niggers!” Vinegar Atts bellowed. “Less go out an’ see de flyin’-machine!”
Three hundred negroes moved their feet as one man. Hitch Diamond laid his hand upon the arm of Red Cutt about as a policeman would put a man under arrest. Vinegar stepped forward and got on the other side of the aviator, and they conducted him down the rickety stairs of the lodge room and led the procession that formed in a straggling line in the middle of the sandy street. ”

“ Hitch Diamond bellowed.
“I knowed it wus somepin bad,” Prince remarked in a weak voice. “Nothin’ good don’t never happen to a nigger!”
Skeeter Butts dropped the book upon the ground, and it fell open with the laughing face of the gray-haired negro exposed to the view of the men sitting around him.
“Dat Swampo wus in cahoots wid de debbil, fellers,” Hitch remarked in a low tone, as he pointed to the picture. “He wus always potterin’ aroun’ wid buzzards an’ sich like. He teached me a song ’bout de turkey-buzzard when I wus jes’ a little shaver. ”