urprise, and a
great deal of pleasure, at meeting a Northern Union man in the Colonel's
company.

'Look after our horses, now, Miles; Andy and I want to talk,' said the
planter to the landlord, with about as little ceremony as he would have
shown to a negro.

I thought the white man did not exactly relish the Colonel's manner, but
saying: 'All right, all right, sir,' he took himself away.

The night was raw and cold, but as all the rooms of the hotel were
occupied, either by sleepers or carousers, we had no other alternative
than to hold our conference in the open-air. Near the railway-track a
light-wood fire was blazing, and, obeying the promptings of the frosty
atmosphere, we made our way to it. Lying on the ground around it,
divested of all clothing except a pair of linsey trowsers and a flannel
shirt, and with their naked feet close to its blaze--roasting at one
extremity, and freezing at the other--were several blacks, the
switch-tenders and woodmen of the station--fast asleep. How human beings
could sleep in such circumstances seemed a marvel, but further
observation convinced me that the Southern negro has a natural aptitude
for that exercise, and will, indeed, bear more exposure than any other
living thing. Nature in giving him such powers of endurance, seems to
have specially fitted him for the life of hardship and privation to
which he is born.

The fire-light enabled me to scan the appearance of my new acquaintance.
He was rather above the medium height, squarely and somewhat stoutly
built, and had an easy and self-possessed, though rough and unpolished
manner. His face, or so much of it as was visible from underneath a
thick mass of reddish gray hair, denoted a firm, decided character; but
there was a manly, open, honest expression about it that won your
confidence in a moment. He wore a slouched hat and a suit of the
ordinary 'sheep's-gray,' cut in the 'sack' fashion, and hanging loosely
about him. He seemed a man who had made his own way in the world, and I
subsequently learned that appearances did not belie him. The son of a
'poor white' man, with scarcely the first rudiments of book-education,
he had, by sterling worth, natural ability, and great force of
character, accumulated a handsome property, and acquired a leading
position in his adopted district. Though on 'the wrong side of
politics,' his personal popularity was so great that for several
successive years he had been elected to represent his