o, the fellows who come after him
are likely to treat us with scant courtesy."

"I'm sure my father would wish to help the black, if he is a runaway
slave, for he hates the system of slavery as much as any man," observed
Dan.

"I tell you what we must do, then," continued the Dominie, "if any
strangers appear, we must keep him inside the hut and cover him up with
boughs and leaves. They will scarcely suspect he is with us, and you
must leave me to answer any questions they put to us."

"Suppose they have blood-hounds with them, the brutes are sure to scent
him out."

"If we see the dogs approaching, we must shoot them without ceremony,
and take our chances of the consequences. I am only supposing what may
not happen, but we must be prepared for contingencies."

As on other nights, we kept watch, giving Dan a short one, the Dominie
and I taking the longest. Our object, however, was to scare away wolves
or bears, for no human enemies were likely to approach us during the
night.

We got up as soon as it was daylight, but the black did not awake until
the sun rose and we had finished our breakfast. We gave him some more
soup, which suited him better than our own fare, but it was evident that
he was still too weak to move.

"The chances are that he remains in this state several days, and your
mother will become alarmed if you do not make your appearance," said the
Dominie. "You know your way home as well as I do, and I wish that you
would set off alone, while I remain with the black. State what has
happened, and perhaps your father will think fit to send the waggon to
bring us in."

As there appeared no objection to this proposal, Dan and I agreed to
start immediately. Tears came into the eyes of the negro when we went
into the hut to wish him good-bye.

"Oh, massa, you like angel from heaven, so good to poor black fellow,"
he exclaimed.

We had a pretty long day's march before us, for although on a beaten
road the distance would have been nothing, we had to make our way
through forests and across streams and bogs, some pretty rough hills to
climb, and valleys to pass. We carried a portion of the venison with
us, which was still uncooked, and felt sure that without going out of
our way we should be able to kill something or other to serve us for
supper should we not reach home in time. At first we had some
difficulty in making our way, and without great care we knew that we
might be steering too far to