hunting season open, but no negro fired a gun. At this
time of the year steamboatmen and tavern-keepers in the villages were
wont to look to Titus, Eli, Pompey, Sam, Caesar and Bill for their game,
and it was not an unusual sight to see them come loaded down with
rabbits and quails caught in traps, but now they sat sullen over the
fire by day, but were often met prowling about at night. This crossed
the Major's mind and drove away his cheerful whistling; and he was
deeply thinking when someone riding in haste reined in a horse abreast
of him. Looking up he recognized the priest.

"Why, good morning, Mr. Brennon; how are you?"

"Well, I thank you. How far do you go?"

"To Brantly."

"That's fortunate," said the priest, "for I am selfish enough to let you
shorten the journey for me."

"I can't do that," the Major laughed, "but we can divide it. I remember
overtaking a man one miserable day out in the Indian Territory. He was
ignorant, but he was quaint; he couldn't argue, but he could amuse, and
he did until he called me a liar, and there our roads split. Don't
think, from my telling you this, that I am in the least doubt as to the
desirability of your company on the road to Brantly. Been some time
since I've seen you, Mr. Brennon."

"Yes; I have been very busy."

"And successfully so, I suppose."

"I am not in a position to complain," said the priest.

"By the way, will you answer a few questions?"

"Gladly, if they're answerable."

"I think they are. Now, the negroes that come into your communion tell
you many things, drop idle gossip that may mean much. Did any of them
ever drop a hint of preparations which their brethren may or may not be
making to demand some unreasonable concession from the white people of
this community?"

"What I have seen I am free to relate to you," the priest answered, "but
as to what has been told--well, that is quite another matter. I have
seen no preparations, but you doubtless remember a conversation we had
some time ago, and on that occasion I think we agreed that we might have
trouble sooner or later."

"Yes, we were agreed upon that point," the Major replied, "but neither
of us professed to see trouble close at hand. For some time I have heard
it rumored that the negroes are meeting at night to drill, but I have
paid but little attention, giving them credit for more sense than to
believe that their uprising could be more than a short, and, to
themselves, a disastrous, s