"
"I am a cotton-planter, and if I buy you, you will have to
work in the cotton-field. My men pick one hundred and fifty
pounds a day, and the women one hundred and forty pounds;
and those who fail to perform their task receive five stripes
for each pound that is wanting. Now, do you think you could
keep up with the rest of the hands?"
"I don't know, sar, but I 'specs I'd have to."
"How long did you live with your third master?"
"Three years, sar."
"Why, that makes you thirty-three. I thought you told me you
were only twenty-five?"
Aaron now looked first at the planter, then at the trader,
and seemed perfectly bewildered. He had forgotten the lesson
given him by Pompey relative to his age; and the planter's
circuitous questions--doubtless to find out the slave's real age--
had thrown the negro off his guard.
"I must see you back, so as to know how much you have been whipped,
before I think of buying."
Pompey, who had been standing by during the examination,
thought that his services were now required, and, stepping forth
with a degree of officiousness, said to Aaron,--
"Don't you hear de gemman tell you he wants to 'zamin you.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47