"Reckons as how 'twar, sah."

"How long ago did you run away?" Phil continued, bent on finding out
all the circumstances connected with the case before deciding what to
do.

"I dunno, 'zactly, sah. Mout a ben six days. 'Pears tuh me like it
ben de longes' time eber. Ain't hed hardly a t'ing tuh eat in all dat
time, massa. Jest gnawin' in heah, an' makin' me desprit. Clar tuh
goodness I knowed I must git somethin', or it was sure all ober wid me.
'Scuse me, sah, foh breakin' in disaway. I'se dat hungry I c'd eat
bran! But if so be yuh on'y lets me go I'll neber kim back ag'in
neber."

"But you would get something to eat if you gave yourself up to the
sheriff?"

The negro shuddered.

"I sooner die in de swamp dan do dat, honey," he said, between his
white teeth. "Dey got a grudge ag'in me ober dar in de turpentine
camp, 'case I took de part ob a pore sick niggah what was bein'
whipped, 'case he couldn't wuk. Dey says it's laziness, but I knowed
better. He died arter dat. But de head keeper, he got it in foh me,
an' he make it hard. I runned away at de fust chanct; an' I jest
shorely knows dat he next door tuh kill me if he gits me back."

"What were you there for?" asked Phil, feeling more kindly toward the
wretched fugitive after hearing what he said, even though it may not
have been wholly true.

"'Case I war a fool, massa; I 'mits dat," returned the other, humbly.
"Cudn't nohow leab de juice alone. I libed in Tallahassee, an' uster
be a 'spectable pusson till I gits drinkin'. Den I got inter a row,
when a man was hurted bad. Dey sent me to de camp foh a yeah; an' it
ain't half up yit. But I'se gwine tuh gib dem de slip, er drap down in
de swamp, dat's what."

"Larry," called out Phil, "wasn't there a lot of stuff left over from
supper?"

"Right you are, Phil. Shall I get it out?" asked the other, whose
heart had been touched by what he heard; for Larry was a sympathetic
sort of a chap, who could not bear to witness suffering, and might be
easily deceived by any schemer.

"Yes," Phil went on, quietly. "This poor fellow is pretty hungry.
We'll feed him first; and while he eats decide what we had ought to do
about his case."

"Oh! bress yuh foh dat, young massa!" exclaimed the man who had been
chased by the dogs and the sheriff's posse. "I done nebber forgits
yuh, nebber. An' if so be I is lucky enuff tuh git out ob dis scrape I
'clar tuh goodness I nebber agin touch a single drap o' d