RUNAWAY
581
decided that he could at last hazard a direct inquiry and so he ap–
proached the Negro confidently.
"Say, man," said Hark, remembering the question he was sup–
posed to ask, "whar de Quakah meetin' house?"
The Negro looked at him through oval spectacles on wire rims,
the only pair of glasses Hark had ever seen on a Negro. He had a
friendly little monkey's face with smallpox scars all over it and a crown
of grizzled hair shining with pig grease. He said nothing for quite
some time, then he declared : "You
is
some big nigger boy. How old
is you, sonny?"
"I'se nineteen," Hark replied.
"You bond or free?"
"I'se bond," said Hark. "I done run off. Whar de Quakah
meetin' house?"
The Negro'S eyes remained twinkling and amiable behind
his
spectacles. Then he said again : "You is some
big
nigger boy. What
yo' name, sonny?"
"I'se called Hark. Was Hark Barnett. Now Hark Travis."
"Well, Hark," the man said, rising from his perch on the row–
boat, "you jes' wait right here and I'll go see about dat meetin' house.
You jes' set right here," he went on, placing a brotherly hand on
Hark's arm and urging him down to a seat on the edge of the row–
boat. "You has had
some
kind of time but now it's all over with," he
said
in
a kindly voice. "You jes' set right there while 1 go see abOut
dat meetin' house. You jes' set right there and rest yo' self and we'll
take care of dat meetin' house." Then he hustled up the beach and
disappeared behind a copse of small stunted trees.
Gratified and relieved to be at last so close to the end of his
quest, Hark sat there on the rowboat for a long moment, contemplat–
ing the blue windy sweep of the river, more grand and awesome than
anything he had ever seen in his life. Soon a lazy, pleasant drowsi–
ness overtook him, and his eyelids became heavy, and he stretched out
on the sand in the warm sun and went to sleep.
Then he heard a sudden voice and he awoke in terror to see a
white man standing over him with a musket, hammer cocked, ready
to shoot.
