Chapter 2

OUR SAILOR BOY DISLIKES MR. OSBORNE.

"Oh, how dreadful!" exclaimed Camilla, as she listened to the recital of what had taken place.

"I am thinking of his mother," said Mrs. Arthur, "and I am so thankful--so thankful--that he is safe!"

Mr. Osborne took a very practical view of the matter.

"You could have kept the negro, I suppose," he said, "as you had your gun; but then it might not have been very easy to get him anywhere, you being a boy."

"I didn't wish to _get him anywhere_," replied Ralph. "I wished him to go where he liked."

"Of course; it wasn't your business to catch runaway negroes," said the overseer, "and you did perfectly right. Only I wish I could have been there. Did he seem to be afraid of you?"

"No, sir; I laid down my gun."

"Suppose he had taken it up?"

"I never thought of such a thing, sir; I was trying to help him, and he knew it."

"I wouldn't have trusted him," remarked the overseer.

"I did trust him, sir; or, rather, I didn't think anything about it. I wanted to stop his leg from bleeding."

"Was he in a hurry to be off after you had fixed him up?"

"He looked uneasy, as if afraid that somebody else might come before he could get away."

"Perhaps he expected you to take up your gun and order him to march for his old quarters?"

"I don't know how that was," said Ralph; "but the gun lay all the while where he could have taken it up if he would."

"What did you say to him?"

"I told him he was free. And it almost made me cry to see how grateful he appeared for what I had done. I hope he has some good place to stay in."

"No danger," said the overseer; "he has a good enough place for this climate, and lives on the fat of the land, besides. I think some of my negroes could go straight to him within the next two hours, but they won't tell."

"And do they never run away, too?" asked Ralph.

"Yes; but I have generally got them back. Sometimes they are arrested by the Spanish soldiers, if they venture out of the woods; and sometimes, when they keep in their hiding-places, I track them out myself."

"And do you whip them when you get them back?"

"Of course I do; that teaches them better than to risk it again."

Somehow, Ralph did not like Mr. Osborne; for, besides that it was hard to help associating him with the cruel office he occupied, there was a something in him as an individual which repelled the boy's quick, intuitive sympathies. Practically he might be better than most overseers, but how could he be otherwise under a superior like Mr. Arthur?

Ralph had brought in the parrots and paroquets that he had shot, for he had not forgotten them on remounting his pony, and he now took off their skins in a very artistic manner, leaving the beautiful plumage almost unruffled, much to the delight of Camilla, who thanked him for his thoughtfulness of her.

Upon the journey homeward, the two spotted ponies, keeping close together, galloped, trotted or walked, according to the fancies of their riders or the variations of the road, while the horses of the older people jogged more steadily.

"I wonder," said Camilla, "if Jumbo will not often think of you? I know he will, though--he cannot help it."

"I hope he will," said Ralph; "and I hope, too, that he will not suffer. Your father does not seem at all anxious to get him back."

"Oh, no! papa does not care for his running away. He says that if the revolution should succeed, the new government would free all the slaves, and he is willing that this should be done. Somehow, he is a slaveholder against his will."

"Do you like Mr. Osborne?" asked Ralph.

"Not very well. Papa has a high opinion of him as an overseer, but I do think that even papa himself is not quite satisfied with all that was done while we were away in the United States."

"The revolutionists appear to ruin a great many sugar plantations," said Ralph. "Do you ever feel afraid of being molested?"

"Yes, mamma and I do, because they sometimes come very near us; but papa says he does not think there is any danger. They know what his sentiments are; besides, he is an _Americano_, and they have a great respect for _los Americanos_."

"And isn't he afraid, then, of the Spanish government?"

"No; he takes no active part on either side; only his feelings are with the liberal party. I think papa is not much of a politician."

"I know how he feels," said Ralph; "he is good and kind, and wants everybody to be free. He is one of the best men I ever saw."

"He really is!" exclaimed Camilla, enthusiastically. "He is just as good as any one _can_ be. And," she added, with childlike earnestness, "he likes you ever so much, too."

Ralph was perfectly happy upon this ride; and when the party reached home, it was to be greeted by the unaffected welcome of the negroes, old and young, who were evidently much attached to their master and his household. The parrots chattered, and the song-birds sang, while the odor of the orange blossoms was well in keeping with the rest.