den de fire's done burnt 'em all up. I seen, down in a big
holler, a place whar somebody's been burnt, shore! Dar's a man, and a
hoss on top on him, and de hoss's har am all burnt off, and de man's
trouse's-legs am all burnt off too, and one foot's got a fried boot onto
it, and tudder han't got nuffin' on, but jes' de skin and bone all
roasted to a crisp; and I 'specs dar's 'nuff sight more dead folks down
in dar, on'y I didn't da's to look, it make me feel so skeerylike!"

All which, and much more, Toby related so circumstantially, that Captain
Sprowl was strongly impressed with the truth of the story. Great,
therefore, was the joy of the captain. Perhaps the patriots had been
destroyed: he hoped so! Still more ardently he hoped that Virginia had
perished with her father. For was he not the husband of Salina? and the
snug little Villars property, did he not covet it?

"Can you show me that spot, Toby?"

"'Don'o', sar: I specs I could, sar."

"Don't you forget about it! Now, Toby, go home to your mistress,--my
wife's your mistress, you know,--and wait till you are wanted."

"Yes, sar,"--bowing, and pulling his foretop.

Captain Sprowl did not overhear the irrepressible chuckle of
satisfaction in which the old negro indulged as he retired, or he would
have perceived that he had been trifled with. We are apt to be extremely
credulous when listening to what we wish to believe; and Lysander's
delight left no room in his heart for suspicion. All he desired now was
that Gad should appear and confirm Toby's report; for surely Gad must
know something about the dead horse and the dead man under him; and why
did not the fellow return?

As for Toby, he hastened home as fast as his tired old legs could carry
him, chuckling all the way over his lucky escape, and the cunning
answers by which he had mystified the captain without telling a
downright falsehood. "Ob course, dey ain't on de face ob de 'arth, long
as dey's inside on't! Hi, hi, hi!"

He did not greatly relish reporting himself to Salina: nevertheless, he
had been ordered to do so, not only by the captain, but by those whose
authority he respected more.

Salina, though so bitter, was not without natural affection, and she had
suffered much and waited anxiously ever since Toby, terrified into the
avowal of his belief that Virginia was in the burning woods, had set out
in search of her. She was not patient; she was wanting in religious
trust. She had not slept. All n