eads over the proposition.

"These men have no courage," the blacks said to the boys. "Their
heart is broken. They fly at the sound of a Spaniard's voice. What
good do you expect from them? But if the Spaniards come, we fight.
Our people are brave, and we do not fear death. If the Spaniards
come we fight with you, and die rather than be taken back as
slaves."

One morning, on rising, the boys heard some exclamations among
their allies.

"What is it?" they asked.

The negroes pointed to films of smoke, rising from the summits of
two hills, at a short distance from each other.

"What is that a sign of?" they asked.

"It is a sign that the Spaniards are coming. No doubt in pursuit of
a runaway; perhaps with those terrible dogs. The Spaniards could do
nothing among these mountains without them. They follow their game
through the thickest woods."

"But," said Ned, "why on earth do not the negroes take to the
trees? Surely there could be no difficulty in getting from tree to
tree by the branches, for a certain distance, so as to throw the
hounds off the scent."

"Many do escape in that way," the negro said; "but the pursuit is
often so hot, and the dogs so close upon the trail, that there is
little time for maneuvers of this sort; beside which, many of the
fugitives are half mad with fear. I know, myself, that the baying
of those horrible dogs seems to freeze the blood; and in my case, I
only escaped by luckily striking a rivulet. Then my hopes rose
again; and after following it, for a time, I had the happy thought
of climbing into a tree which overhung it, and then dropping down
at some little distance off, and so completely throwing the dogs
off the trail."

"Why do they not shoot the dogs?" Ned asked. "I do not mean the men
whom they are scenting, but their friends."

"We might shoot them," the negro said, "if they were allowed to run
free; but here in the woods they are usually kept on the chain, so
that their masters are close to them.

"Listen," he said, "do you not hear the distant baying?"

Listening attentively, however, the boys could hear nothing. Their
ears were not trained so well as that of the negro, and it was some
minutes before they heard a distant, faint sound of the deep bark
of a dog. A few minutes later a negro, panting for breath, bathed
in perspiration, and completely exhausted, staggered into the glade
where they were standing. The other negroes gave a slight cry of
alarm, at the pro