e Colonel has advertised."

"Yas, sar, he'm 'way now more'n a monfh."

"How can Scip find him?"

"Dunno, sar. Scipio know most ebery ting--reckon he'll track him. He
know him well, and Sam'll cum back ef he say he orter."

"Where do you think Sam is?"

"P'raps in de swamp."

"Where is the swamp?"

"'Bout ten mile from har."

"Oh, yes! the shingles are cut there. I should think a runaway would be
discovered where so many men are at work."

"No, massa, dar'm places dar whar de ole debble cudn't fine him, nor de
dogs nudder."

"I thought the bloodhounds would track a man anywhere."

"Not fru de water, massa; dey lose de scent in de swamp."

"But how can a man live there--how get food?"

"De darkies dat work dar take 'em nuff."

"Then the other negroes know where the runaways are; don't they
sometimes betray them?"

"Neber, massa; a darky neber tells on anoder. De Cunnel had a boy in dat
swamp once good many years."

"Is it possible! Did he come back?"

"No, he died dar. Sum ob de hands found him dead one mornin' in de hut
whar he lib'd, and buried him dar."

"Why did Sam run away?"

"'Cause de oberseer flog him. He use him bery hard, massa."

"What had Sam done?"

"Nuffin, massa."

"Then why was he flogged? Did the Colonel know it?"

"Oh, yas; Moye cum de possum ober de Cunnel, and make him b'lieve Sam
war bad. De Cunnel dunno de hull ob dat story."

"Why didn't _you_, tell him? The Colonel trusts _you_."

"'T wudn't hab dun no good; de Cunnel wud hab flogged me for tellin' on
a wite man. Nigga's word aint ob no account."

"What is the story about, Sam?"

"You wont tell dat _I_ tole you, massa?"

"No, but I'll tell the Colonel the truth."

"Wal den, sar, you see Sam's wife am bery good-lookin', her skin's most
wite--her mudder war a mulatter, her fader a wite man--she lub'd Sam
'bout as well as de wimmin ginrally lub dar husbands" (Jim was a
bachelor, and his observation of plantation morals had given him but
little faith in the sex), "but most ob 'em, ef dey'm married or no, tink
dey must smile on de wite men, so Jule she smiled on de oberseer--so Sam
tought--and it made him bery jealous. He war sort o' sassy, and de
oberseer strung him up, and flog him bery hard. Den Sam took to de
swamp, but he didn't know whar to gwo, and de dogs tracked him; he'd ha'
got 'way dough ef ole Moye hadn't a shot him; den he cudn't run. Den
Moye flogged him till he war 'most dead, and arter dat chained