One genplum he gwine gib her a mule for her own sef and forty
acres ob groun'; so she dun gon' ter see 'bout hit." "Did any one else
go?" "Oh, yes, mistis, Uncle Albert and Aunt Alice dey go too, and dey
want we all to go 'long, but I's gwine ter wait untwill sees what Jack
got ter say, 'cause I ain't gwine _nowha_ dragging all dem chillum
along untwill I knows for sartin whar I's gwine ter stop." Sick at
heart, the lady turned away, slowly returning to the desolated house.
Her occupation was gone; order and system could not be restored. There
was nothing before the anxious woman but to watch and wait for news.
On the second day one of the negro men returned, bringing a tale
almost too horrible for belief,--Colonel M----, whose defiant bearing
had incensed his captors more and more, had been shot down for
refusing to obey orders. "Master was well, but looked mighty bad." The
man also brought the first news of the surrender, a rumor which all
refused to believe, although even the possibility filled all breasts
with terrible forebodings. _Could_ it be true? No! a thousand times
no! And yet,--oh, the dread, the anguish of waiting to know.
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