Legree drew in a long breath; and,
suppressing his rage, took Tom by the arm, and, approaching his face almost to
his, said, in a terrible voice, "Hark 'e, Tom! -- ye think, 'cause I've
let you off before, I don't mean what I say; but, this time, I've made up my
mind, and counted
the cost. You've always stood it out again' me: now, I'll conquer ye, or
kill ye! -- one or
t' other. I'll count every drop of blood there is in you, and take 'em, one by
one, till ye give up!"
Tom looked up to
his master, and answered, "Mas'r, if you was sick, or in trouble, or
dying, and I could save ye, I'd give ye my heart's blood; and, if taking every drop of blood in
this poor old body would save your precious soul, I'd give 'em freely, as the
Lord gave his for me. O, Mas'r! don't bring this great sin on your soul! It
will hurt you more than 't will me! Do the worst you can, my troubles'll be
over soon; but, if ye don't repent, yours won't never end!"
H.
Oh the doleful sight that
now was to behold at this house! "Come, behold the works of the Lord,
what desolations he has made in the earth." Of thirty-seven persons who
were in this one house, none escaped either present death, or a bitter
captivity, save only one, who might say as he, "And I only am escaped
alone to tell the News" (Job 1.15). There were twelve killed, some
shot, some stabbed with their spears, some knocked down with their
hatchets. When we are in prosperity, Oh the little that we think of
such dreadful sights, and to see our dear friends, and relations lie
bleeding out their heart-blood upon the ground. There was one who was
chopped into the head
with a hatchet, and stripped naked, and yet was crawling up and down.
It is a solemn sight to see so many Christians lying in their blood,
some here, and some there, like a company of sheep torn by wolves, all
of them stripped naked by a company of hell-hounds, roaring, singing,
ranting, and insulting, as if they would have torn our very hearts out;
yet the Lord by His almighty power preserved a number of us from death,
for there were twenty-four of us taken alive and carried captive.
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