it's been sence yistiddy! I
dunner wharbouts de change is, but it sho' is dar. It mought be de way
you look at me, an' it mought be de way you don't look at me--an' ef
you ain't done grow'd bigger I ain't no nigger."

"I have only ceased to be giddy for the time being," I said. "I am
afraid I have some serious work cut out for me to-night. If you want to
go you are welcome to do so, and if you stay I'll be glad to have you.
I don't know anyone I had rather have near me when a row springs up."

"Me, Marse Cally? You sholy don't mean me." It was plain that he was
delighted. "You know how skeery I is, Marse Cally, when dey's a row
gwine on. I can't he'p gittin' skeer'd ter save my life. But it's de
same way 'bout leavin' you; I'm skeer'd ter leave you. I couldn't go
out dat door fer ter save my life." Whistling Jim held out his long,
slim hands where he could look at them. Then he ran the scale of an
imaginary piano, once, twice, and shivered again. "I tell you, Marse
Cally, I'm a-gittin' skeerder an' skeerder. I wish dey'd come on ef dey
comin'."

"Well," said I, "I'll place the key of the door on the mantel here, and
you can go out whenever you want to."

But he protested almost violently. "Don't you dast ter do dat, Marse
Cally! You put dat key in yo' pocket, an' let it stay dar."
Nevertheless, I laid it on the mantel. The negro looked at it more than
once, and finally, as if taking leave of the temptation it represented,
blew it a kiss from his long fingers.

As he sat down, four men filed into the room through the inner door,
which had opened almost noiselessly.

XI

The men came in treading on one another's heels. The leader was a
thick-set, heavily built fellow, and he had an evil-looking eye. He was
evidently a soldier, or had been one, for he had the air and bearing
that is unmistakable in a man who has seen service. He had a heavy jaw,
and I noticed that his hair was cropped close to his head. The others
appeared to be civilians, plain honest men, but ready, as were many men
in Tennessee in those days, to help the Union cause in a quiet way.

[Illustration: The leader ... had an evil-looking eye.]

"You said thar was only one," remarked one of them to the short-haired
man.

"I only told you what Captain Leroy said," replied the leader.

"Well, you better had 'a' fetched Leroy along," commented the man, and
I judged that he had small stomach for the work before him.

I realized that the tim