"
"You own all the land, then?"
"The syndicate does, yes, sah."
"Then you must have some wealthy men among you?"
"No, sah, not one. The town was begun, sah, by the kindness of Colonel
Egerius."
"Colonel--he was, that is, he is--" began Hamilton, stammering.
"He is not a negro, sah," the old man answered finishing the boy's
embarrassed sentence for him with entire self-possession. "Colonel
Egerius, sah, was a plantation owner, befo' the war. Ah was one o' his
slaves, an' mos' o' the people in Bullertown are the children o' those
born in the plantation quarters."
"And he started the town?"
"Yas, sah, in a way. He fought with Lee, sah, an' my brother was his
body-servant all through the war. When Lee surrendered, the Colonel came
back to the old plantation. Some of the slaves had gone, but thar was
quite a few left still. He called us to the big house an' tol' us to
stay by the ol' place an' he would pay us wages. Some--Ah was not one o'
them, though Ah see now they were right,--said the quarters were not fit
to live in."
"But I thought you said Colonel Egerius was a kind master? How could
that be if the quarters were so bad?"
"No, sah," he said, "Ah should never call the old massa kind, he was
fair an' ready to help a willin' worker.
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