full length on the ground, Jim lay there, fast
asleep. I passed on, thinking of the wisdom of placing a tired negro on
guard over an acute and desperate Yankee.

I rose in the morning with the sun, and had partly donned my clothing,
when I heard a loud uproar in the hall. Opening my door, I saw Jim
pounding vehemently at the Colonel's room, and looking as pale as is
possible with a person of his complexion.

"What the d--l is the matter?" asked his master, who now, partly
dressed, stepped into the hall.

"Moye hab gone, sar--he'm gone and took Firefly (my host's
five-thousand-dollar thorough-bred) wid him."

For a moment the Colonel stood stupified; then, his face turning to a
cold, clayey white, he seized the black by the throat, and hurled him to
the floor. With his thick boot raised, he seemed about to dash out the
man's brains with its ironed heel, when, on the instant, the octoroon
woman rushed, in her night-clothes, from his room, and, with desperate
energy, pushed him aside, exclaiming: "What would you do? Remember WHO
HE IS!"

The negro rose, and the Colonel, without a word, passed into his own
apartment.

CHAPTER XI.

THE PURSUIT.

I sauntered out, after the events recorded in the last chapter, to
inhale the fresh air of the morning. A slight rain had fallen during the
night, and it still moistened the dead leaves which carpeted the woods,
making an extended walk out of the question; so, seating myself on the
trunk of a fallen tree, in the vicinity of the house, I awaited the hour
for breakfast. I had not remained there long before I heard the voices
of my host and Madam P---- on the front piazza:

"I tell you, Alice, I cannot--must not do it. If I overlook this, the
discipline of the plantation is at an end."

"Do what you please with him when you return," replied the lady, "but do
not chain him up, and leave me, at such a time, alone. You know Jim is
the only one I can depend on."

"Well, have your own way. You know, my darling, I would not cause you a
moment's uneasiness, but I must follow up this d----d Moye."

I was seated where I could hear, though I could not see the speakers,
but it was evident from the tone of the last remark, that an action
accompanied it quite as tender as the words. Being unwilling to
overhear more of a private conversation, I rose and approached them.

"Ah! my dear fellow," said the Colonel, on perceiving me, "are you
stirring so early? I was about to send