w who would suppose that I would ever again see that chipping from a
London gaol I told you of--my shipmate of cleanly habit and unsocial
nature. Yet there he is."

CHAPTER II

ITS CARGO

The afternoon sunshine lay hot upon the house and garden of Verney
Manor--the leaves drooped motionless, the glare of the white paths hurt
the eye, the flowers seemed all to be red. The odor of rose and
honeysuckle was drowned in the heavy cloying sweetness of the pendant
masses of locust bloom. Down in the garden the bees droned in the vines,
and on the steps the flies buzzed undisturbed about the sleeping hounds.
Above the long, deserted wharf and the green velvet of the marshes
quivered the heated air, while to look upon the water was like gazing
too closely at blue flame. From the tobacco fields floated the notes of
a monotonous many-versed chant, and a soft, uninterrupted cooing came
from the dove cot. Heat and fragrance and drowsy sound combined to give
a pleasant somnolence to the wide sunny scene.

Deep in the cavernous shade of the porch lounged the master of the
plantation, his body in one chair, his legs in another, and a silver
tankard of sack standing upon a third, over the back of which had been
flung his great peruke and his riding coat of green cloth, discarded
because of the heat. Thin, blue clouds curled up from his long pipe, and
obscured his ruddy countenance.

His shrewd gray eyes under their tufts of grizzled hair were half
closed in a lazy contentment, born of the hour, the pipe, and the drink.
The world went very well just then in Colonel Verney's estimation. His
crop of the preceding year had been a large and profitable one; this
year it bid fair to be still more satisfactory. During the past few
months he had acquired a number of servants and slaves, and his head
rights would add a goodly number of acres to his already enormous
holdings; land, land, always more land! being the ambition and the
necessity of the seventeenth century Virginia planter. Trader, planter,
magistrate, member of the council of state, soldier, author on occasion,
and fine gentleman all rolled into one, after the fashion of the times;
Cavalier of the Cavaliers, hand in glove with Governor Berkeley, and
possessed of a beautiful daughter, for whose favor one half of the young
gentlemen of the counties of York and Gloucester were ready to draw
rapier on the other half,--Colonel Verney's world was a fair and
stirring one, and ga