Free The Unvanquished by William Faulkner

your——”
    “Who from?” Father said.
    Granny looked at Father for a second, then back at us. “I dont know. There was nobody there.—take off your Sunday clothes,” she said.
    It was hot the next day, so we only worked on the new pen until dinner and quit. It was even too hot for Ringo and me to ride our horses. Even at six oclock it was still hot, the resin was still cooking out of the front steps at six oclock. Father was sitting in his shirt sleeves and his stockings, with his feet on the porch railing and Ringo and I were sitting on the steps waiting for it to get cool enough to ride, when we saw them cominginto the gate, about fifty of them, coming fast, and I remember how hot the blue coats looked. “Father,” I said; “Father!”
    “Dont run,” Father said. “Ringo, you go around the house and catch Jupiter; Bayard you go through the house and tell Louvinia to have my boots and pistols at the back door, then you go and help Ringo. Dont run, now: walk.”
    Louvinia was shelling peas in the kitchen. When she stood up the bowl broke on the floor. “Oh Lord,” she said. “Oh Lord. Again?”
    I ran then. Ringo was just coming around the corner of the house; we both ran. Jupiter was in his stall, eating; he slashed out at us, his feet banged against the wall right by my head twice like pistols before Ringo jumped down from the hayrack onto his head. We got the bridle on him but he wouldn’t take the saddle. “Get your horse and shove his blind side up——” I was hollering at Ringo when Father came in running, with his boots in his hand and we looked up the hill toward the house and saw one of them riding around the corner with a short carbine, carrying it in one hand like a lamp. “Get away,” Father said. He went up onto Jupiter’s bare back like a bird, holding him for a moment and looking down at us. He didn’t speak loud at all; he didn’t even sound in a hurry. “Take care of Granny,” he said. “All right, Jupe. Let’s go.” Jupiter’s head was pointing down the hallway toward the lattice half doors at the back; he went out again, out from between me and Ringo like he did yesterday, with Father already lifting him and Ithinking, He cant jump through that little hole. Jupiter took the doors on his chest only they seemed to burst before he even touched them and I saw him and Father again like they were flying in the air, with broken planks whirling and spinning around them when they went out of sight. And then the Yankee rode into the barn and saw us and threw down with the carbine and shot at us point blank with one hand, like it was a pistol, and said, “Where’d he go, the rebel goddamn son of a bitch!”
    Louvinia kept on trying to tell us about it while we were running and looking back at the smoke beginning to come out of the downstairs windows: “Marse John setting on the porch and them Yankees riding through the flowerbeds and say, ‘Brother, we wanter know where the rebel John Sartoris live’ and Marse John say ‘Hey?’ with his hand to his ear and his face look like he born loony like Unc Few Mitchell and Yankee say ‘Sartoris. John Sartoris’ and Marse John say ‘Which? Say which?’ until he know Yankee stood about all he going to and Marse John say ‘Oh, John Sartoris; whyn’t you say so in the first place’ and Yankee cussing him for idiot fool and Marse John say ‘Hey? How’s that?’ and Yankee say ‘Nothing! Nothing! Show me where John Sartoris is fore I put rope round your neck too’ and Marse John say ‘Lemme git my shoes and I show you’ and come into house limping and then run down the hall at me and say ‘Boots and pistols, Louvinia. Take care of Miss Rosa and the chillen’ and I go to the door but I just a nigger; Yankee say ‘That woman’s lying. I believe that man was Sartoris himself. Go look in thebarn quick and see if that claybank stallion there’——” until Granny stopped and began to shake her.
    “Hush!” Granny said. “Hush!