ne; you got five dollars a plug for the
tobacco?" "Oh, yes!" I said, "tobacco is scarce, and they were hungry
for it; it went like hot cakes--the price was not questioned, I sold at
once." "What is the prospect for selling more?" he asked. "Will you sell
it for half the profit if I furnish the tobacco?" I said "yes." So he
sent the same day for a box of tobacco--about five hundred plugs. When
the tobacco came the box was sawed in two and one-half sent up to my
room. I put some fellows out as agents to sell for me--Uncle Hudson, who
took care of the horses and mules at the works; John at the hospital;
William, head chopper, among the 100 men in the woods. Each brought in
from $40.00 to $50.00 every two or three days, and took another supply.
Sometimes, when I had finished my work in the afternoon, I would get an
old pony and go around through the neighborhood and sell four or five
plugs. It was a mystery to the servants how I got the tobacco; but I did
not let on that Brooks was backing me. In two weeks we had taken in
$1,600.00, and I was happy as I could be. Brooks was a fine fellow--a
northerner by birth, and did just what he said he would. I received
one-half of the money. Of course this was all rebel money, but I was
sharp, and bought up all the silver I could find. Just as we got on the
other half of the box, Brooks received word that the Yankees were
coming, and to send all the hands to their masters. I was glad that I
had made some money, knowing that I would need it if I gained my
freedom, which I now knew was quite probable, as the Union forces were
gaining ground everywhere. But the message ended my money-making, and I
prepared to go home to Panola.

* * * * *

GOING BACK TO PANOLA.

Mr. Brooks fixed the return papers so that my wife and I could leave the
party of slaves at Demopolis, and go on thence to Panola by rail, to
convey the news to madam that all hands were coming home; that the
Yankees were expected to capture the salt works within a short time. At
Jackson, some seven miles from the salt works, we were delayed over
night by reason of lack of facilities for crossing the Tombigbee river.
The report that the Yankees were coming through had created a panic
among the white people; and hundreds, fleeing from their homes, had
gathered at the river, waiting and clamoring for an opportunity to
cross. Though slaves were property, and valuable on that account, the
whites seeme