- The
devil!"
Here Tom, who still kept his eyes fixed upon his victim, gave a
knowing wink, and thrust his tongue out of his mouth.
"He is coming! - he is coming!" cried the affrighted wretch; and
clearing the open doorway with one leap, he fled across the field at
full speed. The stream intercepted his path - he passed it at a bound,
plunged into the forest, and was out of sight.
"Ha, ha, ha!" chuckled poor Tom, sinking down exhausted on his bed.
"Oh that I had strength to follow up my advantage, I would lead Old
Satan such a chase that he should think his namesake was in truth
behind him."
During the six weeks that we inhabited that wretched cabin, we never
were troubled by Old Satan again.
As Tom slowly recovered, and began to regain his appetite, his soul
sickened over the salt beef and pork, which, owing to our distance
from - -, formed our principal fare. He positively refused to touch
the sad bread, as my Yankee neighbours very appropriately termed the
unleavened cakes in the pan; and it was no easy matter to send a man
on horseback eight miles to fetch a loaf of bread.
"Do, my dear Mrs. Moodie, like a good Christian as you are, give me
a morsel of the baby's biscuit, and try and make us some decent
bread. The stuff your servant gives us is uneatable," said Wilson to
me, in most imploring accents.
