L.J. is reading the Daodejing"[An enslaver mercenary officer] promised [the Maroons] life, liberty, victuals, drink, and all they wanted. They replied, with a loud laugh, that they wanted nothing from him; characterized him as a half-starved Frenchman, who had run away from his own country; and assured him that if he would venture to pay THEM a visit, he should return unhurt, and not with an empty belly. They told us, that we were to be pitied more than they; that we were WHITE slaves, hired to be shot at and starved for four-pence a day; that they scorned to expend much more of their powder upon such scarecrows; but should the planters or overseers dare to enter the woods, not a soul of them should ever return, any more than the perfidious rangers . . .
"After this they tinkled their bill-hooks, fired a volley, and gave three cheers; which being answered by the rangers, the clamor ended, and the rebels dispersed with the rising sun."
- Maroon Societies, Chapter 17 (spellings in the original Americanized, italics converted to caps)
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