"Oh, Brother Jacob," he chuckled, "what an executive help you air!
Captain, isn't he a perfect Marius?"
"Madam Cannon," observed the captain, "throws up the farm with this
payment, gentlemen. She has already moved her effects across the line to
son-in-law Johnson's. The bee-tree I know nothing about."
"Brother Jacob," spoke Isaac Cannon, "Moore takes the farm! Let him be
notified that his rent commences without day."
"Execution made, Brother Isaac," answered the Marius of the family.
"This morning, perceiving Patty Cannon about to move her effects, my
bailiff seized on her plough as security for the aforesaid bee-tree
spoiled, maimed, and destroyed, and Moore is ploughing to put in his
wheat with it already. Time is money to Isaac and Jacob Cannon."
"Ha, ha! what an executive comfort! Brother Jacob never adds an item to
profit and loss."
"Gentlemen," said Van Dorn, "I recommend you not to be charging
bee-trees to tenants in the vicinity of Johnson's Cross-roads. It's an
unusual item, and we are raising young men there who may not understand
it."
"Captain," said the elder Cannon, chuckling as if still in admiration of
Marius's subtlety, "I recollect now that our ferryman brought over a man
from Laurel this morning with some news. A woman with a broken shackle
reported there last night, and said she was the slave of Daniel Custis
of Princess Anne: she came from Broad Creek.
Pages:
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423