At a Girl's Mercy, or, The Fortunes of War — page 75: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

; - / Ee 7 ATOM. w 7 in Ey ms : fy Ne pall . ae + ay “Ts 64 AT A GIRI’S MERCY. her desire to go, as Lola said, and be free, away from the South, and her fear of the consequences, for there was not a negro in the South but knew what followed an unsucessful attempt for freedom: And still hundreds of them accepted the dangers and struggled out of bondage, accepting even life in the swamps to the cruel chains and heavy bur- dens of slavery. ‘“Yo’s shure dey won’t fin’ et out, Lola, an’ kill us??? whispered the girl, excitedly. ‘‘Yo’ shure ob dat?’’ Lola laid her hand kindly on her companion’s shoulder—the shoulder that bore more than one mark of the lash. “Ise cawn’t promise yo’ dat fer certain, Nina; dey may fin’ us, an’ may shoot us, but fer my part I'd radder die dan lib lik’ dis. Et’s worse’n de’th a hunned time, Nina, an’ ef we go, a-puttin’ our trus’ in de Lawd A’mighty, He’ll see’t we’s took car’ ob. De culled folks has as good a chance wid Him as de w’ite folks—Mr. Johnsing tells us so ebery Sabb’th day, chile.”’ “Yes,’’ Nina said, indifferently. It seemed to her that the Lord wasn’t specially good to them when he allowed such suffering and cruelty to fall upon them, and just then if she could get away she would have more faith in her own powers of stealth and endurance than in the hand of the Lord, “Well, Dll go,” she said, setting her teeth firmly together. “‘I’ll resk et, too, Lola. Et can’t be worse’n de’th.”’ Lola pressed her hand affectionately down upon her shoulder. “We’s ter go as men,” she said. ‘Dress yo’se’f Eomicbooks.co