Ultrawa, No. II [pp. 468-478]

ULTRAWA: VIVA.
"Who may you be, and what place is
that yonder?" Bendleton inquired, almost anxiously, pointing meanwhile to
the semicircle of cottages at a little distance.
"That," she replied, "is Ultrawa;
and I am Viva."
As he dismounted, the young man
heard approaching footsteps - strong,
quick steps in advance, followed, at an
interval, by others of a clumsy tread.
The form which first came in sight was
a fair type of the average English yeoman: somewhat above the usual height,
with well-chiseled features, full jovial
face, and beard and hair of iron gray.
The person was advanced in years, but
still in excellent preservation. Plodding
on behind him, and moving with a slouching hitch in his gait, came another person, who, at a little distance, could be
heard to croon in a droning tone. His
voice, bulky at the mouth, but soon
evaporating, was busily tangling the
remnants of a hymn into an inextricable
snarl. Thus it ran:
"Where, O where, is der den of lions?
He went up in der charity ob fire -
Safe now in de prommus lan'.
Where, O where, is der Hebre-yew chillen?
Dey done gone up wid de good ole Moses By-and-by we goes up for to meet dem Way down in de prommus lan."
Surely enough, as some reader may
recognize, it is Ben himself, on hand
once more-as "black" as ever, if not
as "blame" -wrapped in a brown coat,
manufactured originally of some costly
material and for a daintier wearer, but
somewhat small for the Negro's unwieldly shape, so as to compress his
herculean proportions to the point of
evident resistance. Ben held in his
hand a huge chunk of cake, which he
munched between the mumbled verses,
as if the several bites were so many
bars in the melody, as well as interludes
between his foot-falls, as he came off one
leg, heavily down upon the other, his jet
visage shining with oleaginous serenity.
Ben's stride, heretofore in these presents described as clumping and stumping, may have been somewhat misreported. It was really a dancing step
performed by one foot, and a species of
voluntary limp accomplished by the other, twiddling the air with the first, while
coming down hard upon the second,
thereby communicating to his whole
frame a vibratory motion, as if he hoped
to arrest his own progress long enough
to enjoy a regaling mouthful; whereas, in
fact, the matter ended in a lurch, that
projected his advance to an accelerated
speed, as if he were ruthlessly pushed
onward.
Precipitating himself thus from behind the trees, he was just entering
upon a monody which we remember to
have heard before, in words following:
"My father had a dunghill fowl,
That run'd upon-"
when he jerked himself up at the horse's
bridle, with his nose upon his withers,
and could not, with absolute convenience, get further. Possibly the reader
may accept the situation.
At his companion's bidding, Ben takes
the horse to lead him to a stable at some
rods distant, disregarding the bridle, and
holding the quiet creature by the mane
and nose, as if he were some wild colt
in the pasture, remarking at the same
moment, with dignity, as he feels a currency-stamp slipped into his hand:
"Dese yer hoss-stomps ain't noways
'jectional. I hel' hosses in ole Massa's
time. In dose yere timeses dere was
nuffin to do wid dese yere cruncesstomps. Der boss allays hab de silber
quarters, same's dey done hab down
here in Ultroy. Boss, dis yer geldin'
blow like de bery porpus. He look
like he bloat hissef wid nuffin."
The dwelling-house into which Bendleton was now introduced by his conductor, stood apart from the other houses of the settlement-which fronted it
[Nov.
472