Part 11

I afterwards learned that Davy had rescued my poor dear mother from destruction at the risk of his own life during an earthquake in Trinidad, for which my grandfather had given him his freedom, together with the hut and land. But the free black had no protection in the west: the slaves plundered his property; sickness came, and no medical attendant would minister to his wants without his accustomed fee; he contracted debts, and his ground was sold to the estate on which it was situated to pay the lawyers. He quitted the island of Trinidad to go to Berbice; but being wrecked near Mahaica Creek, on the east coast of Demerara, he lost his free papers, was seized by the government, and sold as a slave to pay the expenses of advertising and his keep. He fortunately fell into the hands of a kind master, who at his death once more set him at liberty, and he had come to England in the hope of bettering his condition. But here misfortune still pursued him; the gentleman whom he accompanied died on the passage; he could obtain no employment on his landing; he had been plundered of what little money he possessed, and had since wandered about the country, till the evening that he implored charity and found a home.

My worthy grandfather is now numbered with the dead; and I love to sit upon his grave-stone at the evening hour: it seems as if I were once more placed upon his knee and listening to his tales of by-gone years. But Daddy Davy is still in existence and living with me; indeed whilst I have been writing I have had occasion to put several questions to him on the subject, and he has been fidgetting about the room to try and ascertain what I was relating respecting him. “I am only giving a _sketch_ of my grandfather, Davy,” said I.

“_Catch_, massa! what he call _catch_?”

“About the schooner, and Trinidad, and the earthquake, Davy.”

“And da old massa what sleep in da _Werk-en-rust_?”[16]

[16] Werk-en-rust, literally work-and-rest, is the name given to the burying-ground at Demerara; but here it is meant to apply generally to all places of sepulture.

“Yes, Davy, and the snow-storm.”

“Ah, da buckra good man! Davy see him noder time up dere,” pointing towards the sky; “Gor Amighty for eber bless kind massa!”

END OF VOL. I.

Transcriber’s Note

- Punctuation and other obvious typographic inaccuracies were silently corrected.

- Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.

- Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.

- Text in italics is enclosed by _underscores_.

- Text in small capitals converted to ALL CAPS.

- Footnotes relocated close to the relevant material.

Correction

- Footnote 4 (p. 149), “dismissed the navy” to “dismissed by the navy”