minutes were
seated in a country stage. Ten more, and we backed up to an old-fashioned
colonial porch, with sloping roof and dormer windows supported by high
white columns. Leaning over the broken railing of the porch was a
half-grown negro boy, hatless and bare-footed; inside the door, looking
furtively out, half concealing her face with her apron, stood an old negro
woman, her head bound with a bandana kerchief, while peeping from behind
an outbuilding was a group of children in sun-bonnets and straw
hats,--"the farmer's boys and girls," the major said, waving his hand, as
we drove up, his eyes brightening. Then there was the usual collection of
farm-yard fowl, beside two great hounds, who visited each one of us in
turn, their noses rubbing our knees.

If the major, now that he was on his native heath, realized in his own
mind any difference between the Eldorado which his eloquence had conjured
up in my own mind, the morning before in Jack's room, and the hard, cold
facts before us, he gave no outward sign. To all appearances, judging
from his perfect ease and good temper, the paint-scaled pillars were the
finest of Carrara marble, the bare floors were carpeted with the softest
fabrics of Turkish looms, and the big, sparsely furnished rooms were so
many salons, where princes trod in pride, and fair ladies stepped a
measure.

The only remark he made was in answer to a look of surprise on my face
when I peered curiously into the bare hall and made a cursory mental
inventory of its contents.

"Yes, colonel; you will find, I regret to say, some slight changes since
the old days. Then, too, my home is in slight confusion owin' to the
spring cleanin', and a good many things have been put away."

I looked to Jack for explanation, but if that thoroughbred knew where the
major had permanently put the last batch of his furniture, he, too, gave
no outward sign.

As for the servants, were there not old Rachel and Sam, chef and valet?
What more could one want? The major's voice, too, had lost none of its
persuasive powers.

"Here, Sam, you black imp, carry yo' Marster Jack's gun and things to my
room, and, Rachel, take the colonel's bag to the sea-room, next to the
dinin'-hall. Breakfast in an hour, gentlemen, as Mrs. Slocomb used to
say."

I found only a bed covered with a quilt, an old table with small drawers,
a wash-stand, two chairs, and a desk on three legs. The walls were bare
except for a fly-stained map yellow wi