"
"Can't you tell us about it, Daddy?" asked Dumps.
"I ain't got de time now," said the old man, "caze hyear's de wagin
almos' at de do'; an', let erlone dat, I ain't nuber hyeard 'twus good
luck ter be tellin' no tales on de Fourf uv July; but ef'n yer kin
come ter my cabin some ebenin' wen yer's er airin' uv yerse'fs, den
I'll tell yer jes wat I hyearn 'bout'n de owl, an 'struck yer in er
many er thing wat yer don't know now."
And now the wagon stopped at the back gate, and the little girls and
Mammy and the little darkies got out, and Mammy made the children say
good-night to Daddy Jake and Uncle Rob, and they all went into the
house very tired and very sleepy, and very dirty with their
celebration of "Marse Fofer July's burfday."
CHAPTER XVI
"'STRUCK'N UV DE CHIL'EN"
IT was several days before the children could get off to Daddy Jake's
cabin to hear about the owl; but on Saturday evening, after dinner,
Mammy said they might go; and, having promised to go straight to Daddy
Jake's house, and to come home before dark, they all started off.
Daddy Jake was the oldest negro on the plantation-- perhaps the oldest
in the State. He had been raised by Major Waldron's grandfather in
Virginia, and remembered well the Revolutionary War; and then he had
been brought to Mississippi by Major Waldron's father, and remembered
all about the War of 1812 and the troubles with the Indians.
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