chil'en: I gwine tell yer ma."

And Mammy left the room in high dudgeon, but presently came back, and
said Dumps was to go to her mother at once.

"What is the matter with my little daughter?" asked her father, as she
came slowly downstairs, crying bitterly, and met him in the hall.

"Mammy's ben er sa-a-as-sin me," sobbed Dumps; "an' she sa-aid de Lord
wuz goin' ter sen' an angel fur ter git my ha-air, an' she won't
lem'me go-o-o ter see de spec-ec-ec-erlaters."

"Well, come in mamma's room," said her father, "and we'll talk it all
over."

And the upshot of the matter was that Major Waldron said he would
himself take the children to the speculator's camp; and accordingly,
as soon as dinner was over, they all started off in high glee-- the
three little girls and the three little negroes-- leaving Mammy
standing at the top of the stairs, muttering to herself, "Er catchin'
uv de measles an' de hookin'-coffs."

The speculator's camp was situated on the bank of the creek, and a
very bright scene it presented as Major Waldron and his party came up
to it. At a little distance from the main encampment was the
speculator's tent, and the tents for the negroes were dotted here and
there among the trees. Some of the women were sitting at the creek,
others were cooking, and some were sitting in front of their tents
sewing; numbers of little negroes were playing about, and, altogether,
the "speculator's camp" was not the horrible thing that one might