Mr. Shelby was a good man, and kind to his slaves, but he was not very
careful of his money. When he had spent all he had, he did not know what
to do to get more. At last he borrowed money from a man called Haley,
hoping to be able to pay it back again some day.
But that day never came. Haley grew impatient, and said, 'If you don't
pay what you owe me, I will take your house and lands, and sell them to
pay myself back all the money I have lent to you.'
So Mr. Shelby sold everything he could spare and gathered money together
in every way he could think of, but still there was not enough.
Then Haley said, 'Give me that slave of yours called Tom--he is worth a
lot of money.'
But Mr. Shelby knew that Haley was not a nice man. He knew he did not
want Tom for a servant, but only wanted to sell him again, to make more
money. So Mr. Shelby said, 'No, I can't do that. I never mean to sell
any of my slaves, least of all Tom. He has been with me since he was a
little boy.'
'Oh very well,' said Haley, 'I shall sell your house and lands, as I
said I should.'
Mr. Shelby could not bear to think of that, so he agreed to let Haley
have Tom. He made him promise, however, not to sell Tom again except to
a kind master.
'Very well,' said Haley, 'but Tom isn't enough. I must have another
slave.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25