ere rising to their feet when they were
stopped. It was described to me afterward.

"Halloway was in the midst of a powder magazine, absolutely alone,
a single spark would have blown him to atoms and might have caused a
catastrophe which would have brought untold evil. But he was as calm as
a May morning. He walked through them, the man who told me said, as if
he did not know there was a soul in a hundred miles of him, and as if
Absalom were only something to be swept aside.

"'He wa' n't exac'ly laughin', or even smilin', said my informant, 'but
he jest looked easy in his mine.'

"They were all waiting, he said, expecting Absalom to tear him to pieces
on the spot; but as Halloway advanced, Absalom faltered and stopped. He
could not stand his calm eye.

"'It was jest like a dog givin' way before a man who ain't afraid of
him,' my man said. 'He breshed Absalom aside as if he had been a fly,
and began to talk to us, and I never heard such a speech.'

"I got there just after it happened; for some report of what Absalom
intended to do had reached me that night and I rode over hastily,
fearing that I might arrive too late. When, however, I arrived at the
place everything was quiet, Absalom had disappeared. Unable to face
his downfall, he had gone off, taking old Joel with him. The tide of
excitement had changed and the negroes, relieved at the relaxing of the
tension, were laughing among themselves at their champion's defeat and
disavowing any sympathy with his violence. They were all friendly with
Halloway.

"'Dat man wa' n' nothin' but a' outside nigger, nohow,' they said. 'And
he always was more mouth then anything else,' etc.

"'Good L--d! He say he want to drink blood!' declared one man to
another, evidently for us to hear, as we mounted our horses.

"'Drink _whiskey!_' replied the other, dryly, and there was a laugh of
derision.

"I rode home with Halloway.

"I shall never forget his serenity. As we passed along, the negroes were
lining the roads on their way homeward, and were shouting and laughing
among themselves; and the greetings they gave us as we passed were
as civil and good-humored as if no unpleasantness had ever existed. A
little after we set out, one man, who had been walking very fast just
ahead of us, and had been keeping in advance all the time, came close
to Halloway's stirrup and said something to him in an undertone. All I
caught was, layin' up something against him.'

"'That 's all righ