J 38 



that he swore by the Almighty God that he had 

 never been in the bush to hurt him, nor any where 

 else; on the contrary, that he had always loved 

 him, and wished him well ; and that he now begged 

 him to be friends with him again, to forget and for- 

 give all former quarrels, and to accept the hand 

 which he offered him in all sincerity. The sick 

 man also confessed, that he had always loved Ed- 

 ward as his brother, had " eaten and drunk with 

 him for many years with perfect good-will," and that 

 it was his ingratitude for such affection which vexed 

 him more than any thing. On this I told him, that 

 I insisted upon their being good friends for the 

 future, and that I should never hear the word 

 Obeah, or any such nonsense, mentioned on my 

 estate, on pain of my extreme displeasure. I pro- 

 mised that, as soon as Pickle should be quite re- 

 covered, I would buy for him exactly a set of such 

 things as had been stolen from him ; that Edward 

 should bring them to his house, to show that he 

 had rather give him things than take them away ; 

 and I then desired to see them shake hands. They 

 did so, with much apparent cordiality; Edward 

 then went back to his work; and this evening, 

 when I sent him a dish from my table, Pickle de- 

 sired the servant to tell me, that he had hardly any 

 fever, and felt " quite so so," which, in the negro 

 dialect, means " a great deal better." I begin, 

 therefore, to hope that we shall save the foolish fel- 

 low's life at last, which, at one time, appeared to 

 be in great jeopardy. 



