n was so peculiar, that we should most likely
have had trouble, if he had gone with us; and yet in leaving him behind,
we were prompting him to some bad act on account of the slight.

Thomas and Kate were waiting for us by the roadside and, after a joyous
greeting, climbed into the wagon; we then drove on to take up Willis,
whom we found equally on the alert. Each made contributions to the
common stock of provisions and outfit.

Half a mile above the Murch farm, the road entered the borders of the
"great woods," and immediately became little better than a trail, rather
rough and bushy; yet a well-marked track extended for five miles into
the forest, as far as Clear Pond from the shores of which pine lumber
had been drawn out two years previously. From the pond a less well
trodden trail led on over a high ridge of forest land, to the northwest,
for three miles, then descended into a heavily timbered valley, to an
old log structure known as "the skedaddlers' fort."

From "the skedaddlers' fort," there was still the faint trace of a path
through the woods, for two miles further, to the banks of Lurvy's
Stream.

Thence the path continued along the bank of this large brook, for four
or five miles, then crossed it at a sandy ford, to a large opening in
the forest, partly natural meadow and partly cleared, called "the old
slave's farm," where there were two deserted log cabins.

Years before, a negro, said to have been a slave who had escaped from
one of the Southern States and was fleeing to Canada, settled in the
woods here by the stream, thinking perhaps that he had reached Canada
already. He cleared land, subsisted somehow, and made for himself a
considerable farm upon the naturally open intervale. He lived here alone
for many years, seen at times by passing lumbermen, or hunters. Some
ludicrous stories are told of the fright which the sight of a jet black
man gave inexperienced whites who chanced to stumble upon him suddenly
and alone in the woods! There were certain ignorant persons who always
considered this poor, lonely outcast as being a near relative of "old
Nick."

During the Civil War he disappeared from his "farm" and may have
returned to the South, being no longer in fear of bondage. A little
cabin of hewn logs had sufficed him for a house and a few yards distant
another cabin gave shelter to his poultry and cow. These cabins having
stood unoccupied for many years in snow and rain, had bleached
themselves