Betty, Dolly and Phillis were rivals in plantation philosophy and domestic economy, delighting in "hooks" upon each other; but all three came together as one in this great trial-great trial, we say-because it was a dark night, with sky overcast with most threatening clouds, and more than one hundred turkeys, the pride of the poultry yard and dining table at Mount Vernon, all lost, and their whereabouts even beyond the pale of rational conjecture. Aunt Phillis generally "outgeneralled" her rivals in both wit and policy, but the poor old lady had nothing to boast of this time; for she certainly had the deeper anxiety of the three, on account of her child's terrible misfortune. All this time Thomas was closely confined in a close corner of the room-with grave philosophers towering above him, ever and anon covering him with the shadows cast from their dark forms-tearfully reflecting on his sad condition, as well as that of his lost flock, until he was called upon to give an account of his disastrous adventure. Aunt Dolly was cautiously moving round to guard all avenues to the secret, or give the wink to certain trusty servants that something dreadful was "afoot" at Mount Vernon, and that the presence of all the "knowin' persons" inhabiting the Mount was in immediate demand at the headquarters of the venerable body-servant. Early in the night, several wise heads visiting from adjacent plantations began to assemble at different quarters, as company or inclination directed, to spend the evening in conversation, mirth and song; but it was soon discovered that a dead weight, a singular inertia, was pressing somewhere; that something was decidedly "afoot," for the looks of each seemed to indicate to the other that some strange mystery hung over the boundless freedom and generosity of the Mount. Scomberry and Bristol, the famous sages of Dogue Run and Muddy Hole, arrived at the "Home Plantation" just in time to break a dark cloud that began to rise in Aunt Phillis's sky for fear something had occurred to prevent their attendance; and they were directed to hasten to Billy's council fire, where they were soon made acquainted with the outlines of the great problem to be then and there solved. It was now more than nine o'clock; the night dark and cloudy, and premonitory of wind, rain and thunder; but in the face of the warring elements, a number of the wise heads, both male and female, had assembled in council. Thomas was now called up from his corner to face the assembled wisdom of the Mount, make his defence, and show cause, if any he had, why his command had been forsaken, squandered, or captured by the enemy. "I driv my tarkeys way down 'long siden de ribber," said he, with tears chasing each other down his care-worn face; "I sot down to watch 'em, and soon drapped fas' asleep, and when I woke up my tarkeys all done gone !" "Dar," exclaimed Aunt Phillis, throwing up her hands, and wildly rolling her eyes, "I tole you sumpin' hit me on de nose: Itole you sumpin' gwine to happen." A profound silence ensued. "I breaks de silence," said Sambo, the cobbler of the Mount; "and am ob de 'pinion you better be makin' de longest kind o' strides arter de tarkeys." The cobbler would talk when his conversation was irrelevant and foolish; and to hear him in a strain learnedly dwelling upon the mysteries of his art, you might conclude that he "Could shoe a gnat, or shave a fly; Could nimbly cut mosquitoes' corns; Without much ado, the council appointed a committee, consisting of Cully, Sr., Cully, Jr., Mose, the cow-boy, Thomas, the schoolmaster, and several lesser lights, to proceed forth with in search of the turkeys, though it was strongly urged that an attempt to force them from their roost and drive them home on such a dark night, might result in greater loss than to risk them out till daybreak. Cully, Sr., being chairman, and Thomas, the driver, added to the committee as guide, they departed to wander about in the thick underbrush of the woods, and thicker darkness, in search of the lost flock. Bewildered and distressed in mind, poor little Thomas endeavored, as best he could, to pilot the committee to the spot where he slept, and where the turkeys deserted him, and swiftly moved along by different roads and serpentine paths, until he suddenly halted in a dark thicket, about one mile from the council house of the Sachem. "Dis isent de right way," said Thomas. "It's too dark to find de tarkeys 'fore moon up;" and the committee sat down in the deep darkness, under a thick spreading tree, to "study up sumpin," and to take council of each other as to what might be done under the circumstances. After a few moments of hasty conversation, in which all took some part, Cully, the chairman, cast about in the dark for some wandering ray of light, and concluded that the thick darkness on earth, and the frowning clouds in the heavens, were indeed frightful, and that no turkey could be found that night, unless, by accident, he might stumble on a dead one. This thought gave him the horrible idea of dead turkeys; and whilst indulging in gloomy thoughts of the darkness, and the probable fate of the flock, he imagined he saw, with eyes of flesh, the walking phantoms of the dead flock, marching through the thicket with measured step to the music of dry and rattling bones! Cully, therefore, soon gave evidence that he was disturbed by some terrible apparition; bewildered in mind, incoherent in speech, and unwilling to proceed. He felt that every turkey was surely dead; that some untracked carnivorous "varmint," unknown to the philosophy of the age, had swallowed down the entire flock at a mouthful. "I sees wid dese eyes o' flesh o' mine," said he, gazing wildly into the dark thicket, "de ghoses ob de whole flock." "I does, too, 'zackly," said the schoolmaster, rolling the white of his eye, and rising to prepare for evil. Fear had seized the learned pedagogue, and began to run like electric fire through his whole body, to the instantaneous quickening of his intellect. He put himself into the orator's posture, and began to address the terror-stricken committee; but thought was broken and language lame. "Conscript Fathers!" said he, nervously lifting his hat from his fevered head, "I does not rise to waste de night in words. Let dat plebian talk—it's not my trade. I stands here for right—Roman right, sar; but none dare stand to take dar share wid me!" He did not waste much time in words, but, advancing a little in front of the ghost-ridden committee, with face toward Mount Vernon, he thought many terrible thoughts; but, at last, determined to continue his speech to the regiment of ghosts before him. "Ye 'lusive forms !" said he, "ye wild fantastic images, what is ye? Perhaps 'tis fancy all; and yet my eyes will seek dat fatal spot, and fondly dwell upon the sight what blasts 'em." He paused to run, but could see no road out of the thicket; and he feared to run, had a road been there. Staring into the darkness before him, with eyes resting on the imaginary battalion of veritable ghosts, and body leaning forward, he continued his speech a la Shakespeare: "Am dat a tarkey what I sees before me? Wid head toward my hand. Come, let me ketch thee. I has thee not; and yet I sees thee still. Is ye not, most awful wishun, sensible to feelin', as to sight. Or, is ye but a tarkey ob de mind-a false creation 'ceedin' from dis heated brain o' mine ?"-and cutting his speech short, he "took to his heels," darting through the thicket toward Mount Vernon; the others following close in his rear, "While yelling grisly shapes of dread Came hunting on behind." Poor little Thomas's bare feet played swiftly over the ground; but he kept close at the heels of the fugitive committee, until all reached the stable of the "home plantation" in safety, where they threw themselves on the grass to blow, and "study up" a report. "What kind o' fathers am de conscript fathers?" inquired the cow-boy, rising from the grass and resting on his knees before the committee. "Humphf!" said the schoolmaster; "you 'spose I can see how to 'spound de Shakespeare to cow-dribers in de dark?" The committee hastily agreed upon a report in accordance with the suggestion of little Thomas: that it was too dark to find the flock before moon up; and proceeded to deliver it at headquarters; but, by mutual agreement, nothing was to be "let on" about the procession of ghosts, nor the schoolmaster's speeches in the wilder ness. Soon after ten o'clock, they knocked at the door of the councilhouse for admittance: delivered their report, and recommended that all search be suspended until moon-up. "Dar!" said Aunt Phillis, "I tole you sumpin gwine to happen.” "Keep dark," said Billy; "the turkeys are all safe up the trees." "How de young tarkeys gwine to fly up trees?' inquired she. Billy hesitated to answer, and glanced at Scomberry. "How de young tarkeys fly up de trees?" interrupted Scomberry, the phi losopher of Dogue Run. I soon 'monstrate dis to you. I has scraped de 'bacca hill, as you well knows, under all 'maginable sarcumstances. One-fird o' de groun' 'sisted ob big flint stones; onefird o' little ones; one-fird o' roots and snags, and tudder fird 'sisted o' dirt; so, you sees, I has scraped de hills when free-firds ob de 'ponent parts ob de 'foresed hills was 'tagonistic to de life ob de plant, and but one-fird 'dapted to its groff. Arter scrapin' de hills under de 'foresed 'couragin' sarcumstances, l'se sot out de plant, and stood de constant sentinel by it until de money hab chinked in Marse's pocket. I has, darfore, 'corded in dis 'normous brain o' mine all de larnin ob dis famous plant, and all de 'stinctions of de varmints, bofe small and great, dat spy round to chaw it. As de wisdom ob a nation 'pends on de quality ob de people's food, so 'pends also de sharpness ob de 'stinctions ob de insec's what feed on de 'bacca itself, or 'pon other insec's what have chawed it. Eb'ry man in dis 'lightened 'sembly knows dis am been a fac' in all ages ob de world, ever since Killes drug Hector clean round de walls o' Troy. All dis, howsomeber, 'pends on de season when de eatin' am done—dat is, 'fore, arter, or in de time o' dog-days. You all well knows dat de great pest ob de 'bacca plant am de worm, as you can better know by lookin' at my patch jes at dis season. Dis 'structive insec' is hatched on de leaf o' de plant so fast dat you can see de process by de spyglass; and in a few days it comes ob age, when de sharp 'stinctions ob de young insec' leads it to dig a hole in de ground, about a feet or so deep, and tomb itself for a season. Dis has always been de habit ob de worm eber sence Cadmus sot up school in de Greece. "Dis worm is de natʼral production ob de plant. In dis self-made tomb, de insec' undergoes a bery 'laborate process o' 'morphosis, and soon 'pears again 'bove ground in de shape ob a sort o' butterfly, 'nominated by de planters de horn-blower, or he what blows a horn. De fust horn-blowers ob de season am hatched from other plants, as well as de 'bacca, and 'pear buzzin' and horn-blowin' 'mong de plants 'bout the fust o' June. But de horn-blower hatched from de 'culiar nature ob de 'bacca plant am de most 'stinctive and 'veterate ob all horn-blowers. Dis fust kind ob horn-blower dat comes in June is only actin' possum, and 'tendin' to hab a taste for de fine arts ob natur', by buzzin' round 'mong de flowers; but he lies jes like de ole Lucifer; and de fust 'bacca plant dat peeps two inches |