mail at headquarters. The next day he would
be away again upon a fresh horse toward the south, carrying the
soldiers' letters to friends in the far off land of mystery from whence
they all had come.

Troops, sometimes mounted and sometimes afoot, left the post daily for
what I assumed to be patrol duty. I judged the little force of a
thousand men were detailed here to maintain the authority of a distant
government in a conquered country. Later, I learned that my surmise
was correct, and this was but one of a great chain of similar posts
that dotted the new frontier of the black nation into whose hands I had
fallen.

Slowly I learned their tongue, so that I could understand what was said
before me, and make myself understood. I had seen from the first that
I was being treated as a slave--that all whites that fell into the
hands of the blacks were thus treated.

Almost daily new prisoners were brought in, and about three weeks after
I was brought in to the post a troop of cavalry came from the south to
relieve one of the troops stationed there. There was great jubilation
in the encampment after the arrival of the newcomers, old friendships
were renewed and new ones made. But the happiest men were those of the
troop that was to be relieved.

The next morning they started away, and as they were forced upon the
parade ground we prisoners were marched from our quarters and lined up
before them. A couple of long chains were brought, with rings in the
links every few feet. At first I could not guess the purpose of these
chains. But I was soon to learn.

A couple of soldiers snapped the first ring around the neck of a
powerful white slave, and one by one the rest of us were herded to our
places, and the work of shackling us neck to neck commenced.

The colonel stood watching the procedure. Presently his eyes fell upon
me, and he spoke to a young officer at his side. The latter stepped
toward me and motioned me to follow him. I did so, and was led back to
the colonel.

By this time I could understand a few words of their strange language,
and when the colonel asked me if I would prefer to remain at the post
as his body servant, I signified my willingness as emphatically as
possible, for I had seen enough of the brutality of the common soldiers
toward their white slaves to have no desire to start out upon a march
of unknown length, chained by the neck, and driven on by the great
whips that a score of the sold