"
"No, no," cried the girl. "Thank God it IS Christmas! and
hereafter I shall keep Christmas as long as love is love and God
is good."
JEFF'S TREASURE
CHAPTER I
ITS DISCOVERY
Jeff, the hero of my tale, was as truly a part of the Southern
Confederacy as the greater Jeff at Richmond. Indeed, were it not
for the humbler Jeff and the class he represented, the other Jeff
would never have attained his eminence.
Jeff's prospects were as dark as himself. He owned nothing, not
even himself, yet his dream of riches is the motive of my tale.
Regarded as a chattel, for whom a bill of sale would have been
made as readily as for a bullock, he proved himself a man and
brother by a prompt exhibition of traits too common to human
nature when chance and some heroism on his part gave into his
hands the semblance of a fortune.
Jeff was a native Virginian and belonged to an F.F.V. in a certain
practical, legal sense which thus far had not greatly disturbed
his equanimity. His solid physique and full shining face showed
that slavery had brought no horrors into his experience.
Pages:
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475