Flash For Freedom!

number, were brassy enough to be heard in San Francisco. Penny (or Jenny) was one of the quieter ones; she didn't scream with laughter above once a minute.

I was lying there, drowsy and well satisfied, listening to her prattling, when a nigger waiter comes up with a message that I was wanted on the main deck — something to do with my coffle, he said. Wondering what the devil was what, I went down, and to my rage and concern discovered that it was that confounded George up to his nonsense again.

The overseer was swearing and stamping over in the corner where my slaves were, with Randolph standing in front of him looking as arrogant as Caesar.

'What's the matter with it, damn ye?' the overseer was shouting, and then, seeing me:

'Says look here, Mist' Prescott — here's this jim-dandy nigger o' yours don' like this yere 'commodation. No suh, 'pears like 'taint good enough for him. Now, then!'

'What's this I hear, George?' says I, pushing forward. 'What are you about, my boy? Turning up your nose at the quarters — what's wrong with them, sir?'

He looked me straight in the eye, with as much side as old Lord Cardigan.

'We have been given no straw to make beds for ourselves. We are entitled to this; it is covered in the money you have paid for our passage.'

'Well, — me drunk, will ye hear that, now?' cries the overseer. 'Entye — entitt- — ent-what-the-hell-you- say! Don' you give me none o' your shines, ye black rascal! Beds, by thunder! You'll lay right down where you're told, or by cracky you'll be knocked down! Who're you, that you gotta have straw to keep yore tender carcase offen the floor? 'Tother hands is layin' on it, ain't they? Now, you git right down there, d'ye hear?'

'My master has paid for us to have straw,' says Randolph, looking at me. 'The other slaves over yonder have it; only our coffle goes without.'

'Well, there ain't no more goddamed straw, you no-good impident son-of-a-bitch!' cries the overseer. 'So now! I never heerd the like —'

I could have felled that bloody ass Randolph on the spot — perhaps I should have done. Couldn't the fool understand that he must behave as a slave, even if he didn't feel like one? How the devil he ever existed on a plantation was beyond me — it must have taken a saint or a lunatic to put up with his insolent airs. All I could do was play the just master, kindly but firm.

'Come, come, George,' I said sternly. 'Let us have no more of this. Lie down where you are told directly — what, is this how you repay my kind usuage, by impertinence? Have you forgotten yourself altogether, that you speak back to a white man? Lie down at once, sir, this instant!'

He stared at me; I was urging him with my eyes, and he had just wit enough to obey, but with no great humility, plumping down on the deck and folding his arms stubbornly round his knees. The overseer growled.

'I'd take the starch outer that jackanapes right smart, if he was mine. You be 'vised, Mist' Prescott, an' give that uppity yaller bastard a good dressin' down, or he'll have the whole passel on 'em as bad as hisseif. Beds, by Christ! An' sassin' back to me! That's the trouble with all these fancy house-niggers, with bein' roun' white folks they start thinkin' they white, too. Peacocky high-an'-mighties, every last dam' one of them. He'll have bin brought up 'mong white ladies, I don't doubt; too much dam' pettin' when he's young. You trim him up smart, Mist' Prescott, like I say, or he'll be a heap o' trouble to ye.'

He stumped off, muttering to himself, and Randolph sneered softly to himself.

'The gentleman is not without perception,' says he. 'He, at least, was not brought up among white ladies; white sows, perhaps.' He glared up at me. 'We are entitled to straw to lie on — why did you not insist that he provides it? Isn't it enough that I am chained up like a beast in this verminous place, fed on nauseating slops? Aren't you meant to protect me — you, who neglect me to the mercies of that uncouth white scum?'

I wondered if the fellow was insane-not for the way he spoke to me, but for the purblind stupidity with which he overlooked the position he was in, the role he was meant to be playing. He was five days away from freedom, and yet the idiot insisted on drawing attention to himself and provoking trouble. Ordinarily I'd have taken my boot to him, but he so mystified me that I was alarmed. I glanced round; the overseer was out of sight.

'Come over by the rail,' says I, and when we were standing apart:

'Look — haven't you got sense enough to keep your mouth shut and your head down? Where the hell do you think you are — the House of Lords? D'ye think it matters whether you get straw or not — or whether I've paid for it or not? D'ye expect me to take your side against a white man — it'd be the talk of the boat in five minutes, you fool. Just you forget your lofty opinion of yourself for once, and talk humble, and don't be so damned particular, or you'll never see Ohio this trip!'

'I need no advice from you!' he flashed back. 'You would be better remembering the duty you have promised to do, which is to take me north in safety, than to spend your time in gorging with white-trash sluts.'

It took my breath away — not just the insolence, but the discovery of how fast news travels among niggers. And there was just a note in his indignation that made me decide to put my anger aside and be amused instead.

'What's the matter, Sambo?' says I. 'Jealous?'

If looks could kill there'd have been a corpse at his feet.

'I have no words to express my contempt of you, or of the slatterns you… you associate with,' says he, and his voice was shaking. 'But I will not have you endanger my freedom, do you hear? What kind of guardian are you? That swine of an overseer might have provoked me beyond endurance — while you were at your beastliness. It is your task to see me to Canada — that is all that matters.'

There was no piercing this one's arrogance, I saw, not by reason or taunts. So I put my hands on my hips and stuck my face into his.

'All that matters, you black mongrel! I'll tell you what matters — and that is that you keep your aping airs to yourself, touch your forelock, and say 'Yes, massa' whenever I or any white man talks to you. That way you might get to Canada — you just might.' I shook my fist at him. 'If you haven't the brain in that ape skull of yours to see that kicking up the kind of shines you've been at today is the surest way of setting us all adrift — if you can't see that, I'll teach it to you, by God! I'll follow that overseer's advice, Mr Randolph, and I'll have you triced up, Mr Randolph, and they'll take a couple of stone of meat off you with a raw-hide, Mr Randolph! Then maybe you'll learn sense.'

If you think a quadroon can't go red with rage, you're wrong.

'You wouldn't dare!' he choked furiously. 'To me! Why, you … you …'

'Wouldn't I, though? Don't wager your big black arse on that, George, or you'll find you've only half of it left. And what would you do about it, eh? Holler 'I'm a runaway nigger, and this man is smuggling me to Canada?' Think that over, George, and be wise.'

'You … you scoundrel!' He mouthed at me. 'This shall be reported, when I reach Cincinnati — the underground railroad shall hear of it — what manner of creature they entrust with —'

'Oh, shut up, can't you? I don't give a fig for the railroad — and if you weren't a born bloody fool you wouldn't even mention their name. 'When you reach Cincinnati,' no less. You won't reach Cincinnati unless I please — so if you can't be grateful, Randolph, just be careful. Now, then, take off your airs, close your mouth, and get back there among your brothers — lively now! Cross me or that overseer again, and I'll have the cat to you — I swear it. Jump to it, nigger!'

He stood there, sweat running down his face, his chest heaving with passion. For a moment I thought he would leap at me, but he changed his mind.

'Some day,' says he, 'some day you shall repent this most bitterly. You heap indignities on me, when my hands are tied; you insult me; you mock my degradation. As God is my witness you will pay for it.'

There was no dealing with him, you see. It was on the tip of my tongue to yell for the overseer, and have him string Master George up and raw-hide the innards out of him, just for the fun of hearing him howl, but with this kind of quivering violet you couldn't be certain what folly he mightn't commit if he was pushed too far. There was a spite and conceit in that man that passed anything I've ever struck, so I lit a cigar while considering how to catch him properly on the raw.

'I doubt if I'll pay for it,' says I. 'But supposing I did — it's something you can never hope to emulate.' I blew smoke at him. 'You'll never be able to pay for this trip, will you?'

I turned on my heel before he had a chance to reply and strode off, leaving him to digest the truth which I