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these, on opposite sides of the area, were now occupied by brilliant and talented gentlemen, enthusiastically forcing up, in English and French commingled, the bids of connoisseurs in their various wares. A third one, on the other side, still unoccupied, was surrounded by a group, waiting the moment of sale to begin. And here we may recognize the St. Clare servants,Tom, Adolph, and others; and there, too, Susan and Emmeline, awaiting their turn with anxious and dejected faces. Various spectators, intending to purchase, or not intending, examining, and commenting on their various points and faces with the same freedom that a set of jockeys discuss the merits of a horse. Hulloa, Alf! what brings you here? said a young exquisite, slapping the shoulder of a sprucely-dressed young man, who was examining Adolph through an eye-glass. Well! I was wanting a valet, and I heard that St. Clares lot was going. I thought Id just look at his Catch me ever buying any of St. Clares people! Spoilt niggers, every one. Impudent as the devil! said the other. Never fear that! said the first. If I get em, Ill soon have their airs out of them; theyll soon find that theyve another kind of master to deal with than Monsieur St. Clare. Pon my word, Ill buy that fellow. I like the shape of him. Youll find itll take all youve got to keep him. Hes deucedly extravagant! Yes, but my lord will find that he cant be extravagant with me. Just let him be sent to the calaboose a few times, and thoroughly dressed down! Ill tell you if it dont bring him to a sense of his ways! O, Ill reform him, up hill and down,youll see. I buy him, thats flat! Tom had been standing wistfully examining the multitude of faces thronging around him, for one whom he would wish to call master. And if you should ever be under the necessity, sir, of selecting, out of two hundred men, one who was to become your absolute owner and disposer, you would, perhaps, realize, just as Tom did, how few there were that you would feel at all comfortable in being made over to. Tom saw abundance of men,great, burly, gruff men; little, chirping, dried men; long-favored, lank, hard men; and every variety of stubbed-looking, commonplace men, who pick up their fellow-men as one picks up chips, putting them into the fire or a basket with equal unconcern, according to their convenience; but he saw no St. Clare. A little before the sale commenced, a short, broad, muscular man, in a checked shirt considerably open at the bosom, and pantaloons much the worse for dirt and wear, elbowed his way through the crowd, like one who is going actively into a business; and, coming up to the group, began to examine them systematically. From the moment that Tom saw him approaching, he felt an immediate and revolting horror at him, that increased as he came near. He was evidently, though short, of gigantic strength. His round, bullet head, large, light-gray eyes, with their shaggy, sandy eyebrows, and stiff, wiry, sun-burned hair, were rather unprepossessing items, it is to be confessed; his large, coarse mouth was distended with tobacco, the juice of which, from time to time, he ejected from him with great decision and explosive force; his hands were immensely large, hairy, sun-burned, freckled, and very dirty, and garnished with long nails, in a very foul condition. This man proceeded to a very free personal examination of the lot. He seized Tom by the jaw, and pulled open his mouth to inspect his teeth; made him strip up his sleeve, to show his muscle; turned him round, made him jump and spring, to show his paces. Where was you raised? he added, briefly, to these investigations. In Kintuck, Masr, said Tom, looking about, as if for deliverance. What have you done? Had care of Masrs farm, said Tom. |
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