"Thar ain't a nigger on the place." "Apparently white men enough hanging around.

What 's the matter with the negroes ?" "Ghosts," and the fellow laughed.

"Maybe yer've seen sum ?" I straightened up, stung by the sneer in his voice.
"No; but I 've seen something more to the point--a murdered man." "What ?" "Just what I said.

There was a man killed last night in that back room upstairs.

Shot in the head through the window.