wus a nigger.  Fer sum reason ol’ Beaucaire never set her free, ner the quadroon nether.  Wal’ Kirby he heard tell o’ all this sumwhar down the river.  Yer see he an’ Bert Beaucaire run tergether fer a while, till Bert got killed in a row in New Orleans.  I reckon he tol’ him part o’ the story, an’ the rest he picked up in Saint Louee.  Enyhow it looked like a damn good thing ter Kirby, who ain’t passin’ up many bets.  Ol’ Beaucaire wus rich, an’ considerable ov a sport; people who hed seed the gurls sed they wus both ov ’em beauties an’ Eloise—­the white one—­hed an independent fortune left her through her mother.  So Kirby, he an’ a feller named Carver—­a tin-horn—­planned it out betwixt ’em ter copper ol’ Beaucaire’s coin, an’ pick up them gurls along with it.”

“But how cud they do thet?”

“Luck mostly, I reckon, an’ Kirby’s brains.  The plan wus ter git Beaucaire inter a poker game, ease him ‘long a bit, an’ then break him, land, niggers, an’ all.  They didn’t figure this wud be hard, fer he wus a dead game gambler, an’ played fer big stakes.  It wus luck though what giv’ ’em their chance.  Beaucaire hed sum minin’ claims up on the Fevre, an’ hed ter go up thar.  It’s a long, lonesom’ trip, I reckon, an’ so the other two they went ‘long.  They got the ol’ chap goin’ an comin’, an’ finally coddled him ’long till he put up his big bet on a sure hand.  When he found out whut hed happened the of gent got so excited he flung a fit, an’ died.”

“Leavin’ Kirby ownin’ all the property?”

“Every picayune, niggers an’ all.  It wus sum sweep, an’ he hed signed bills o’ sale.  Wa’n’t nobody cud git it away frum him.  Wal’, Joe he didn’t want fer ter make no fuss, ner scare the gurl none, so he went down ter’ Saint Louee an’ made proof o’ ownership afore a jedge he know’d.  Then, with the papers all straight, he, an’ the sheriff, with Tim yere, the deputy, run up the river at night ter serve ’em quietly on the daughter—­the white one, Eloise.  Kirby he didn’t aim ter be seen at all, but just went ’long so thar wudn’t be no mistake.  Yer see, them papers hed ter be served afore they cud take away the niggers.  Kirby wus goin’ ter sell them down river, an’ not bother ’bout the land fer awhile, till after he’d hed a chance ter shine up ter this yere gurl Eloise.  He’d never seen her—­but, enyhow, he got thet notion in his hed.”

“She wus the daughter; the white one?”

“Sure; he hed the other by law.  Wal’, when they all got thar, nobody wus home, ‘cept one o’ the gurls, who claimed fer ter be Rene—­the one whut wus a nigger, thet Kirby owned.  Nobody know’d which wus which, an’ so they hed ter take her word for it.  They cudn’t do nuthin’ legal till they found the other one, an’ they wus sittin’ round waitin’ fer her ter turn up, when the nigger gurl they wus watchin’ got away.”

“How’d she do thet?”

“Don’t noboddy seem ter know.  Damn funny story.  Way they tell it, sumbody must’r knocked Kirby down an’ run oft with her.  Whoever did it, stole the boat in which Kirby an’ the sheriff cum up the river, an’ just naturally skipped out—­the sheriff’s nigger an’ all.  It wus a slick job.”