There was also an old-fashioned buffalo-robe, somewhat
dilapidated, that could serve for concealment or as shelter from
the elements. Two or three empty baskets suggested a return from
the market. There was another article that one would hardly have
looked for. This was a smoke-cured ham loosely wrapped in some old
sacking. It had gone over that route a number of times. Its odor
neutralized the smell by which the presence, immediate or recent,
of negroes might be detected.
"My fellow-travelers, as my passengers might be called, were
interesting companions. Both, in one sense, were children, the
mother certainly not being over seventeen years old. She was a
comely half-breed mulatto. Her baby--a pretty boy of two
years--was one degree nearer white.
"The girl was inclined to be confidential and talkative. She said
she was 'old mas'r's' daughter. Her mother had been one of 'old
mas'r's' people. She had grown up with the other slave children on
the place, being in no way favored because of her relationship to
her owner. The baby's father was 'young mas'r'--old master's son,
as it appeared--and who, consequently, was a half-brother of the
youthful mother.
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