The Known World - Edward P. Jones [148]
“No other kind,” Stennis said.
“There ain’t been no Georgia president of the United States far as I know.” He hiccuped. “I ain’t heard of one yet.”
Augustus and the Negro with the white man had not taken their eyes from each other.
“Why sure, there has been, sir. He was a fine president, too. What was his name, Stennis?”
“Lemme see. Whatn’t that President Bentley? I think it was.”
“Yes, President Bentley fom Georgia. Hooray for President Bentley. Hooray! Hooray!”
“I tell you there ain’t been no damn president from Georgia.”
“There ain’t?” Darcy said. “There ain’t? Well, there damn well should have been. And I’ll tell you somethin—there will be a president from Georgia and real soon.”
“Yes,” Stennis said. “There will be. There will be five at least, as far as I can tell. Maybe ten. Maybe ten. There’ll be ten if I have anything to do bout it. Could go to be twenty or thirty.”
“All right, Stennis, thas anough of that. You see, mister,” and Darcy took his hand. “I’m tryin to give you a good bargain in this here nigger. Just four hundred and fifty. Thas all I’m askin.”
“I thought you said four hundred dollars a minute ago.”
“Did I? Did I say that? Well, it jus goes to show how valuable this nigger gets every minute that goes by. Lordy lordy! Why, in another hour this nigger be so valuable you couldn’t buy him if you was the king of England.”
“I have to be going,” the man said, “I got the queen of England waiting for me.”
“Please, sir,” Darcy said. “Maybe three hundred and fifty, and I’ll be crying in my soup tonight about that.”
“No.” The man began walking away. Darcy followed him and Stennis followed. The Negro stayed with Augustus.
“Three hundred? Two hundred and fifty. Two hundred.” Darcy tugged at the man’s sleeve.
“No. Come along, Belton,” he said to the Negro, but the slave did not move.
“Please. Two hundred dollars. What you want me to do, give him away?”
“That would be a good notion. Come on, Belton,” and both men disappeared around a corner.
“Damn damn damn,” Darcy said, looking at the space the man had just occupied. “You think I was too hard with the bargainin, Stennis.”
“No, Master, I think you was right on the money.”
“Hmm. Well, we best get to beddin down with this fella. I hate to think about headin into Florida. I don’t see good luck in Florida, but tomorrow is another day.”
“And another dollar, Marse.”
10
A Plea Before the Honorable Court. Thirsty Ground. Are Mules Really Smarter Than Horses?
The day Skiffington first came out to Caldonia’s place about Alice and Priscilla and Jamie disappearing, Moses had expected to eat supper again with Caldonia that night, but she was not hungry and the dinner meal would be the only one of her day. She had thought all that day that the three would return before nightfall, finding it difficult to believe that two women and a boy would leave what she and Henry had made. A man perhaps, someone like Elias or Clement, not a madwoman and a woman who seemed to adore her. She had informed Skiffington as a kind of courtesy to the law, but when he showed up and stood before her, the whole matter of the disappearances became more important than the nuisance she figured it to be. It was as if one of her bulls had escaped and before a servant could find and bring him back, he had not just run through someone’s fields but run over a child or two. A simple misdemeanor correctable with money had become a felony. What saved her was that she was the victim.
Moses told her in the parlor that all had gone well even without Alice and Priscilla and Jamie. The harvest would be good. She reached her hand out to him, wanting him to sit beside her.
“Where do you think they are?” she asked. She had looked in Henry’s big book after Skiffington’s visit and estimated that the three might fetch as much as $1,400, depending upon the potential someone might see in a chubby boy and a woman who could work but might wander off on occasion. “Do you think something has happened to them?”
“No, ma’am,” Moses said.