yer jes wat I hyearn 'bout'n de owl, an' 'struck yer in er many er thing
wat yer don't know now."

And now the wagon stopped at the back gate, and the little girls and
Mammy and the little darkies got out, and Mammy made the children say
good-night to Daddy Jake and Uncle Bob, and they all went into the house
very tired and very sleepy, and very dirty, with their celebration of
"Marse Fofer July's burfday."




CHAPTER XVI.

"'STRUCK'N UV DE CHIL'EN."


It was several days before the children could get off to Daddy Jake's
cabin to hear about the owl; but on Saturday evening, after dinner,
Mammy said they might go; and, having promised to go straight to Daddy
Jake's house, and to come home before dark, they all started off.

Daddy Jake was the oldest negro on the plantation--perhaps the oldest in
the State. He had been raised by Major Waldron's grandfather in
Virginia, and remembered well the Revolutionary War; and then he had
been brought to Mississippi by Major Waldron's father, and remembered
all about the War of 1812 and the troubles with the Indians. It had been
thirty years or more since Daddy Jake had done any work. He had a very
comfortable cabin; and although his wives (for the old man had been
married several times) were all dead, and many of his children were now