I followed the men to see what they was going to do with Jim; and the old doctor and Uncle Silas followed after Tom into the house. The men was very huffy, and some of them wanted to hang Jim for an example to all the other niggers around there, so they wouldnât be trying to run away like Jim done, and making such a raft of trouble, and keeping a whole family scared most to death for days and nights. But the others said, donât do it, it wouldnât answer at all; he ainât our nigger, and his owner would turn up and make us pay for him, sure. So that cooled them down a little, because the people thatâs always the most anxious for to hang a nigger that hainât done just right is always the very ones that ainât the most anxious to pay for him when theyâve got their satisfaction out of him.
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