like dey was gone crazy."

"But you'll starve to death there, Uncle 'Rasmus. I don't fancy there
are very many of old Mary's goods left in the hovel, for if I remember
rightly young Dinah laid claim to the greater portion, and how will you
get along for something to eat?"

"I was kind'er 'lowin', chile, as how you an' Saul, an' maybe little
Pierre as you call him, would tend out on de ole man, des enough to
fetch now an' den what he was needin' to hol' de soul in his body."

"But if, as Pierre says, the British entrenchments run back of the town
as far as the Pigeon Quarter, then old Mary's cabin must be inside, and
how would we be able to get through the lines?"

"Well, chile, I ain' got any great lub for de Britishers; but I'se
'lowin' dey ain' so hard-hearted as to hold out a couple ob chillun what
wanted to feed a pore ole nigger. It kind'er seems as if dey'd be
'shamed to let your Uncle 'Rasmus starbe, eben ef he is no 'count kase
ob bein' so ole, specially ef all dey'd hab to do to keep him erlong,
was to let a couple or three chillun in de lines."

It was all blind to me, this sudden whim of Uncle 'Rasmus to take up his
quarters in old Mary's cabin, which was hardly more than the veriest
shanty, and while I stood looking at the old man, trying to get some
glimmer of truth out of what was fast becoming a mystery, little
Frenchie's face lighted up wondrously, as he leaped forward, seizing the
old darkey by both hands while he cried joyously:

"It's a great plan, Uncle 'Rasmus, it's a great plan! I'll go with you a
good part of the way so's to help along, for of course you count on
carrying something."

"I spects I'se boun' to hab a blanket, chile, an' sumfin in de way ob
food, kase I ain' sich a foolish ole nigger as to tink I could get trou
a sogerman's lines in de night, an' so I'll be needin' sumfin for a bed
ef nothin' more."

"But if you are foolish enough to go to York Town, what's the sense of
starting to-night? Why not wait till morning? You say yourself you don't
expect to get through the lines after dark, therefore why sleep on the
ground when you could stay here in comfortable quarters?" Saul cried,
whereupon Pierre, turning from Uncle 'Rasmus, said to the lad:

"Can't you understand that this old negro is paving a way for you and
Fitz to get at your horses?"

"I may be a thick-head; but I surely can't see how taking up his
quarters in old Mary's cabin, where we've got to carry food to him eve