Taken Alive

the greater Jeff at Richmond. Indeed, were it not for the humbler Jeff and t

as a chattel, for whom a bill of sale would have been made as readily as for a bullock, he proved himself a man and brother by a prompt

t when he had been scolded or threatened into the completion of his tasks by nightfall. He then gave her and her daughters some compensation for their trials with him by producing his fiddle and making the warm summer evening resonant with a kind of music which the negro only can evoke. Jeff was an artist, and had a complacent consciousness of the fact. He was a living instance of the truth that artists are born, not made. No knowledge of this gifted class had ever suggested kinship; he did not even know what the word meant, but when his cheek rested lovingly against his violin he felt that he was

rvices naturally came into great demand, and he was catholic in granting them-his mistress in good-natured tolerance acceding to requests which promised many forgetful hours at a time when the land was shadowed by war. So it happened that Jeff was often at the more pretending residences of the neighborhood, sometimes fiddling in the detached kitchen of a Southern mansion to the

ld hold a half-washed dish suspended minutes at a time while listening to one "ob de young missys at de pianny. Dat's de way I'se pick up my most scrumptious pieces. Dey cyant play nuffin in de daytime dat I cyant 'prove on in de ebenin';" and his vanity did not lead him much astray. But when with those of his own color, or with the humbler classes, he gave them the musical vernacular of the region-rude traditional quicksteps and songs, strung together with such variations of his own as made him the envy and despair of all other fiddlers in the vicinity. Indeed, he could rarely get away fro

of his power; he made the slave forget his bondage, the poor whites their poverty, maidens the

through the long sultry hours. Every moment death wounds were given and received, for thick as insects in woods, grove, and thicket, bu

the darkest corner of the cellar, he thought, "Dis yer beats all de

men; and later the contending forces departed, having accorded to the fallen such poor

l seriousness. Dishes were washed in such brief time and so thoroughly, and such havoc made in the garden-weeds that the world might make a note o

s that awakened a wholly different train of thought and desire. A colored boy, more venturous than himself, was said to have picked up some "Linkum" money on the battlefield. This information shed on the wild wooded tract where t

wid dis yer niggah. What hab I'se got ter do wid de wah and de fighten an de jabbin'? De spooks cya

sit the field that night. He took no one into his confidence, fearing if he discovered treasures of any kind he could not be left in undisturbed

unnin' 'mong de spooks arter it. De place fer a big fine is whar de brush is tick and de Linkum men crawl away so dey woan be tromp on. Who knows but I kin fine a pla

y shadowed dirt-road long since disused to any extent, he found strange creeping sensations running up and down his back. The moonlight filtered through the leav

d stared at the object. Gradually it resolved itself into a low mound in the dim light. Approaching cautiously, he discovered with a dull sens

ool fer? De Feds nor de Yanks am' a-gwine ter bodder me if I am' steppin' o

or over a grave. A breeze stirred the forest as if all the thousands buried in its shades had heaved a long deep sigh. With chattering teeth Jeff stopped to listen, then, reassured, continued to pick his tortuous way. Suddenly there was an ominous rustling in a thicket just behind. He broke

ober dat de spooks on de side dis way cyant cross arter me;" and he hastened toward the spot where he supposed the Federals had been massed the m

orated canteens and torn knapsacks-the debris of a pitched battle. Many trees and shrubs were so lacerated that their foliage hung limp and wilt

er which he had come. Pushing the bushes aside, he peered among their shadows for some moments, and then uttered an exclamation of surprise and terror as he bounded backward. There was no mistake this time; he had seen the figure of a man with a ray of moonlight filtering

such a lifelike attitude that while Jeff knew the man must be dead, taking the box seemed like robbing the livin

and trembling limbs, looked upon the silent guardian of the treasure, half expecting the dead man to raise his head, and warn him off with a threate

approached the dwelling of his mistress. His panic had gradually subsided, and as he noted f

treasure could be settled was a matter of superstitious belief. There was only one way-he must hide the box in a secret nook, and if it remained undisturbed for a reasonable length of time, he might hope for its undisturbed enjoyment. According