Chapter 8

Danny an' I were on our usual Wednesday early mornin' huntin' trip when we came upon a large camp at the edge of the woods jus' off the main trail toward Mobile. Not bein' the naive soul that I used ta be, I asked Danny ta keep the dogs with him an' ta guard my back while I went ta see what wuz the story at the unexpected camp.

"Howdy, Gentlemen. My name's Joe McSwain, an' this is my usual huntin' territory. Ifen y'all don't mind my askin', I wonder how much longer y'all will be campin' here?"

One of the men answered, "Howdy, Mr. McSwain. I'm John Asper, an' I'm the leader of this bunch. We jus' stopped fer the night, an' we won't be here much longer. Would ya join us fer a cup of coffee?"

"Thank ya, Mr. Asper. I don't mind ifen I do. Fresh coffee is always welcome."

"Hey, Hester, git yer pussy over here an' git this gentleman a cup of coffee!"

I had not seen the naked White woman cowerin' behind some bales until jus' then. She obviously wuz a slave, since she had red stripes from a whip up an' down her back an' buttocks. She had some rags wrapped around her feet, but she had no protection fer her body beyond that. She wuz not especially beautiful, but she wuz better than plain.

Hester scurried over ta me with a cup of freshly poured coffee which I accepted with thanks. Asper said, "There ain't no need ta thank that pussy, she ain't nothin' but a slave. Speakin' of that, do ya want ta sample her pussy afore we leave? I'm offerin' that in payment fer messin' up yer huntin' this mornin'."

"No thank ya, I'm burned out from my wives takin' care of me this mornin' afore I left home. It does look like most of y'all in camp (there were five more White men) have been samplin' her pussy right recently."

Asper laughed an' said, "Well, Mr. McSwain, ya appear ta be right observant fer this early in the day."

"I guess I have ta be, ifen I expect ta be lucky with huntin'. I see y'all got nine more slaves in yer strin'. Ain't it kinda unusual that they're all White?"

"Yeah, it is. I picked 'em up at a sale up on the Tennessee River, an' I'm takin' 'em ta the big auction in Mobile, what comes up in about six weeks. Whites brin' more than blacks, soz I'm expectin' ta do right well with 'em."

I stood up an' got ready ta leave. "Well, Mr. Asper, it wuz a pleasure ta meet ya. I 'spect I'd better git with it ifen I'm gonna git sumpthin' useful from this here little huntin' trip."

I wuz about ta turn around when I heard a shout from Danny, "JOE, LOOK OUT BEHIND YA!" I wuz wearin' my leather jerkin armor, but I didn't take no chances. I dropped ta the ground an' rolled as soon as I heard that shout.

Danny fired his musket an' sent the dogs ta my rescue. We happened ta have four dogs with us that day, purely by chance, but I shore wuz glad of it. Danny's bullet had hit the man behind me right under his raised arm an' gone into the blackguard's body. Ifen he wasn't dead now, he would be soon. The bastard wuz holdin' a club an' about ta clip me with it, pro'bly ta add me ta the slave strin'.

The dogs each jumped a slaver, leavin' me ta deal with Asper. My musket wuz not much help at this range, so I pulled out my trusty tomahawk, what I knew I could depend on. Asper jumped ta his feet; he wuz holdin' a short whip. This whip wuz pro'bly the one used on Hester, since it didn't have no barbs or nothin' like that on the leather strin's.

Asper swung that whip like he'd had a lot of experience with it an' caught me on my left arm what I had raised ta shield my face. Man, that smarted! The strands wrapped around my arm, so I grabbed the whip an' pulled with my left hand. That got Asper plenty close enough fer me ta stab at him with the point on my tomahawk.

He brushed my tomahawk aside with his left arm; that bastard wuz a hell of a lot stronger than he looked! The point on my tomahawk head tore a gash in his shirt, but jus' scratched him a little on the side as he twisted out of the way. By now, he had turned loose of the whip an' leaned back ta pick up a short club like you see toughs carry in the city.

I had recovered from my lunge an' flicked my wrist ta catch Asper in the left arm with the blade of my tomahawk. He yelped in pain, but he didn't drop his club. I swung at his head with my tomahawk, but Asper ducked an' hit me in the side with his club. Man, wuz I ever grateful that I wuz wearin' that armor! He would have broken several of my ribs except fer the cushionin' from the armor. As it wuz, he hit me hard enough ta knock me down.

He didn't have much time ta gloat, because two of the dogs jumped him at the same time. One ripped open his gut, an' the other tore off the muscles of his right arm. I stopped the dogs afore they could finish Asper off because I wanted ta ask him a few questions.

Danny had been checkin' ta make sure all of the other slavers were dead, so he jus' now came runnin' up. Asper wuz busy tryin' ta stuff his guts back into his torn belly, but a fat lot of good that would do him!

I asked Jasper where he had really gotten the slaves, an' his answer wuz "Fuck ya, ya son of a bitch!"

Shit, he wasn't gonna tell me much, that I could tell. I asked Danny ta take the bunch of keys on Asper's belt an' try ta unlock the chains on the slaves. I wanted them ta come over here ta see Asper die. I wuz shore that would do a hell of a lot of good fer their feelin's.

I called Hester over from where she wuz cowerin'. She picked up that whip when she saw it. I didn't expect anythin' of the sort, but as soon as she got close enough, she hit Asper across the face with the whip as hard as she could swin' it. Asper screamed, I am shore in part because he lost an eye in the process. After that one swin', Hester dropped the whip an' started cryin'. I let her cry, since I figured that would do her a lot of good.

The ex-slaves started driftin' up, an' I counted four men an' six women when they all got there. Not a one of them said a word as they stared at Jasper as he lay dyin', in a hell of a lot of pain. One of the men wuz embracin' Hester, so I assumed that there wuz some kind of relationship between them. After a few minutes, the rest of the men were embracin' women, an' that left two women without a shoulder ta cry on. Danny had gotten remarkably tall by now, so I gestured fer him ta provide a shoulder fer the shorter of the two spare women, an' I did the same fer the other one.

We stood there starin' at Asper fer about half an hour, an' I figured that wuz long enough. I pulled out my big knife an' asked, "Which one of y'all wants ta cut Asper's throat?" All of the ex-slaves reacted ta that, but the little one huggin' Danny jumped fer the knife, so I gave it ta her. The girl, or so I figured her, took an awful long time with the job like she wuz relishin' every moment, but she finally finished. A few seconds later, Asper wuz dead.

I asked Danny ta check the bodies ta see if there wuz any loot worth havin', an' one of the ex-slaves said that Asper had his watch. That wuz found immediately, an' the man asked me ta keep it until he had a pocket fer it. I smiled an' dropped the watch in my pocket. We got some money an' a few knives, but there wasn't much else worth havin'. We dragged the bodies into a pile that it would be easy fer the scavengers ta find an' got ready ta leave fer our home.

Asper had been usin' his slaves fer porters, so I asked them ta take on the job one last time. They picked up the bales an' we marched ta our house. My wives were shore startled ta see the parade what showed up, tired an' hungry. They immediately started cookin' the first decent meal the ex-slaves had in over two months.