what those Union men did to Hanson, I think
he will haul in his horns. I wonder if Shelby and Dillon know it?"

"That's another strange thing that happened while you were absent, and I
did not know what to make of it," replied Mrs. Gray. "Of course the
story of the overseer's abduction spread like wild-fire, and I know it
must have reached the village, for the very next afternoon Mr. and Mrs.
Shelby rode out to visit me; and that is something they have not done
before since these troubles began."

"Aha!" said Marcy, in a significant tone. "They began to see that you
were not so helpless as they thought you were, and that it might be to
their interest to make friends with you."

"That is what I think now that I have heard your story," replied his
mother, "but I did not know what to think at the time they made their
visit. I am sorry that I was not more courteous to them, but they were
so _very_ cordial and friendly themselves that it made me suspicious of
them."

"That was perfectly right," said Marcy approvingly. "You did well to
stand on the defensive. Don't let them fool you with any of their
specious talk. They're treacherous as Indians, and would burn your house
over your head to-morrow, if they were not afraid."

"Oh, I hope they are not as bad as that. What do you think these Union
men did with the overseer? They didn't--didn't----"

"Kill him as they ought to have done?" exclaimed Marcy, when his mother
hesitated. "No, I don't think they did; and neither can I guess what
they did with him. But Jack said, in effect, that after he was taken
away he would not bother us again for a long while. Did Shelby ask after
Jack and me?"

"He did; and I told him that you had gone off in the _Fairy Belle._ Mrs.
Shelby hinted that Jack might be on his way to Newbern to join the navy,
and I did not think it worth while to deny it. It seems Jack told young
Allison that if you rode into Nashville alone some fine morning, Allison
might know that Jack was aboard a gunboat. Of course Mrs. Shelby thought
he meant a rebel gunboat."

"Don't you believe it," said Marcy earnestly. "She knew better than that
and so did Allison. Did the hands seem to be very badly frightened over
Hanson's disappearance?"

"There never was such a commotion on this plantation before," answered
Mrs. Gray. "According to the coachman's story, Jack predicted that
'white things' would some night appear in the quarter and carry Hanson
away with them; and