There were a few words in Spanish scrawled on the back.

"Here is the man!" said I, looking down on the sleeping figure; "who
would have thought a thousand dollars could be made of him?" Not,
indeed, that I speculated on such an unholy gain. No, the very offer
enlisted my sympathies in favor of the poor wretch; besides, how many
years ago must that advertisement have appeared? He was forty-eight at
that time, and now his age might be nigh eighty. My curiosity became
intense to see the contents of the pocket-book, from which I could fancy
abundant materials to eke out the negro's history. I am afraid that
nothing but the terror of discovery prevented my stealing it. I even
planned how it might be done without awaking him; but the long bright
knife which glistened in the strap of his blanket admonished me to
prudence, and I abstained.

My fire waxed fainter as the dawn drew nigh, and as I was afraid of
sleep coming over me, I stepped noiselessly from the hut, and gained the
open air. My first occupation was to hoist the signal; and as it rose
into the air, I watched its massive folds unfurling, with a throb of
hope that gave me new courage. The standard was very lofty, and stood
upon a mound of earth; and as the flag itself was large, I had every
reason to think it could not escape notice. Scarcely, indeed, had I made
fast the halyard than I beheld on the very verge of the horizon what
seemed to be a vessel. The moment of sunrise, like that of sunset, is
peculiarly favorable to distinct vision; and as the pink line of dawn
sheeted over the sea, the dark object stood out clear and sharp; but the
next moment the glare of brighter day covered sky and water together,
and I could no longer see the ship.

In my anxiety to try and catch sight of it from another spot, I hastened
down to the shore; but already a rosy tint was spread over the wide sea,
and nothing was discernible except the heaving waves and the streaked
sky above them.

I sat upon a rock straining my eyes, but to no purpose; and at last the
cold raw air pierced through me, and I remembered that I had left my
jacket in the hut. But for this, indeed, I would not have returned to
it,--for, without absolute fear of the negro, his repulsive features and
scowling look made his companionship far from pleasurable. His suspicion
of me, too, might have led him to some act of violence; and therefore
I determined, if I were even to seek shelter in the Refuge-house at the