ubt that the secret would be safe with them; and adds that, in
addition to their good faith, they possessed a remarkable talent for
concealment.

The Steadman plantation was only three miles from Aunt Katy's hut, and
accordingly, Ben being sent for, soon made his appearance, and proffered
his valuable services as guide. The offer was thankfully accepted; but,
despite the preference of Glazier and his companion for the swamp as the
safest place of concealment, Ben prevailed upon them to visit his cabin,
where they were hospitably entertained by his wife and children. Having
been duly inspected as curiosities "from de Norf," our friends were
pleased to hear Ben instruct his little daughter to run up to the house
of his mistress and "snatch a paper." She soon afterward came running
back with the Augusta _Constitutionalist_, published that morning.

Having gathered from the newspaper a sufficiently intelligible idea of
the relative position of Sherman and his opponents, the fugitives bade
farewell to the family, and proceeded upon their way, crossing the river
by ten o'clock; and shortly after--Ben having parted from them--in
consequence of the complicated directions of numerous _blind-roads_,
they became confused, and, instead of pushing forward beyond the South
Edisto, as they had planned to do, halted early in the afternoon and
"pitched their tent" for the remainder of the day and night--said _tent_
having the sky for its roof as usual.

Their camping-ground upon this occasion was in the heart of a dense pine
wood, where, notwithstanding the grim and spectral surroundings, they
slept soundly until after midnight, and then arose refreshed and ready
for another day's march on the road to freedom. Hoe-cake and pinders
(_anglice_, peanuts) formed their only repast, which they found
sufficiently luxurious under the circumstances.

It now became necessary to find their bearings. There was no star
plainly visible, and they had not yet learned to take the moon as a
guide. Moreover, the heavenly bodies in Southern latitudes have so
different an appearance from those seen at the North, that they were
frequently in doubt as to the points of the compass. "I remember,"
writes Captain Glazier, "that it caused me great grief to find that the
North Star was much nearer the horizon, and seemed to have lost that
prominence which is given to it in higher latitudes, where it is a
guide, standing far above tree-top and mountain."

What