and a warm one. After running a mile or more, there
was a small stream to be crossed; and with a few well-balanced steps on a
half-decayed log that lay at the edge of the water, I reached the opposite
bank just as my pursuer stepped on at the other end. Hearing a strange
kind of shock, I turned and saw the big six-footed animal astride the log,
twisting and writhing about in great agony. He had slipped and fallen in
such a manner as to pain him almost beyond endurance. I stood on the bank
and laughed at him; and--shall I confess it?--I tried half a dozen more
caps at the fellow, with a most savage deliberateness; to all which he
paid not the slightest attention; but as his strength came gradually back,
I took to my heels again, and fortunately reached the highway....

The last ten miles of our ride that night were passed over in a very
headlong manner: we stopped only once, as we heard the cry of some hounds
on the south side, and then on again, keeping our horses just within their
speed, till at the worst place on the road, we gave up the reins and let
them go. In less than two hours from Picolata, we snuffed the salt air
again; and reaching the open country, walked our horses leisurely into St.
Augustine.

As we entered the city my companion left me; and as I drew rein on the
square, I noticed that the schooner was still at the dock, and all about
the city was quiet and undisturbed. The storm had gone by, its skirts
hanging on the eastern horizon, and forming a back-ground to the light of
the light-house, while the city and bay were bright in the starlight; and
if stars shine any brighter in the small hours, they were doing their best
then. All looked pleasant and quite at home, even to the sentry at the
corner; and there was nothing, you would say, to make one sad; but as I
turned the corner I drew a breath of such yawning profundity that the old
dog at the Florida House started up and growled impromptu. That dog had
held a stout nigger all night in the yard, not long before; but
fortunately he knew me, and after smelling, to make sure that all was
right, he followed me into an out-house, when I rolled Bob out of a
cradle, and giving a general order in a low voice for a warm bath in the
morning, found my quarters and went to bed.

At sunrise the next morning I was half awake, grasping at the skirts of a
pleasant dream, when Bob came in, blew about the room for awhile, and
cried out 'Massa, did you order um wom bath?