them Anderson boys fool you. Tom, you must not think because a white man
says a thing, it must be so, and that a colored man's word is no account
'longside of his. Tom, if ever we get our freedom, we've got to learn to
trust each other and stick together if we would be a people. Somebody
else can read the papers as well as Marse Tom and Frank. My ole Miss
knows I can read the papers, an' she never tries to scare me with big
whoppers 'bout the Yankees. She knows she can't catch ole birds with
chaff, so she is just as sweet as a peach to her Bobby. But as soon as I
get a chance I will play her a trick the devil never did."

"What's that?"

"I'll leave her. I ain't forgot how she sold my mother from me. Many a
night I have cried myself to sleep, thinking about her, and when I get
free I mean to hunt her up."

"Well, I ain't tole you all. De gemman said he war 'cruiting for de
army; dat Massa Linkum hab set us all free, an' dat he wanted some more
sogers to put down dem Secesh; dat we should all hab our freedom, our
wages, an' some kind ob money. I couldn't call it like he did."

"Bounty money," said Robert.

"Yes, dat's jis' what he called it, bounty money. An' I said dat I war
in for dat, teeth and toe-nails."

Robert Johnson's heart gave a great bound. Was that so? Had that army,
with freedom emblazoned on its banners, come at last to offer them
deliverance if they would accept it? Was it a bright, beautiful dream,
or a blessed reality soon to be grasped by his willing hands? His heart