pursuit.

"Tim, however, on his way to water Imp, found his young master shot
through the heart, and the young Yankee unconscious. In his faithful
loyalty to the family, he decided to make a prisoner of the Yankee, so
he dragged Vernon over to the waterfall, carried him through the spray,
and laid him down on the mattress in the cave. The cold water which had
fallen upon Vernon's face had partially revived him, and he moaned as if
in pain.

"Tim lighted the lantern and examined him. He found a clean bullet hole
in his chest, but very little bleeding. He decided the best thing to do
would be to notify the master. So, after attending to Imp, he crept out
of the cave and went over to the remains of the young master. He managed
to carry him until he met some of the slaves, then had them improvise a
stretcher to carry the body to the house.

"There was great sorrow in the household, and his death changed the
attitude of the Crudups toward the Yankee officers.

"When it was found that young Vernon was missing, with no trace of him
anywhere, it was thought that he had been taken captive by a few of the
Confederates who got away. Rebecca and I felt dreadfully lonesome after
our friend was missing, and I wished, for the first time since I came
South, that I could go home.

"Then one morning, Rebecca and I decided to go through the hole in the
live-oak tree and crawl to the cave to see Imp. We had not dared to
visit him for some days, as a Yankee sentry was stationed in the woods
by the waterfall.

"Rebecca hid a small lantern under her cloak and we strolled
unconcernedly down the lane toward the dell. We looked carefully about
to make sure no spies were watching, and in another minute both of us
disappeared. We groped along until we reached the opening into the cave
and as we crawled out near Imp's bed, he greeted us with a joyful
whinny. Rebecca ran over and placed her hand over his mouth, so she did
not see the apparition that stared at me from the mattress. Had I held
the lantern I would have dropped it. As it was, I almost dropped myself,
so frightened was I.

"I clutched Rebecca's arm and she turned about to see what ailed me. In
a second she recognized Vernon and ran over with the lantern. As he
could not tell us how he came there, but confided that Tim and Mr.
Crudup came daily to attend to him, we learned that they knew of his
whereabouts. Rebecca snapped her teeth close and her eyes blazed at the
thought of he