CHAPTER XVIII.. O'niel, the Tanner--Conversation With Aunt Phebe Overheard--Epps

O'Niel, the Tanner--Conversation with Aunt Phebe overheard--Epps in the Tanning Business--Stabbing of Uncle Abram--The Ugly Wound--Epps is Jealous--Patsey is Missing--Her Return from Shaw's--Harriet, Shaw's Black Wife--Epps Enraged--Patsey denies his Charges--She is Tied Down Naked to Four Stakes--The Inhuman Flogging--Flaying of Patsey--The Beauty of the Day--The Bucket of Salt Water--The Dress stiff with Blood--Patsey grows Melancholy--Her Idea of God and Eternity--Of Heaven and Freedom--The Effect of Slave-Whipping--Epps' Oldest Son--"The Child is Father to the Man," 250