. Scipio tole us he'd
trust his bery life wid _you_.'

'Well, perhaps he might; it's true I would not injure _you_.' Saying
that, I turned away, though my curiosity was greatly excited to hear
more.

I wandered farther into the woods, and a half-hour found me near one of
the turpentine distilleries. Seating myself on a rosin barrel, I quietly
finished my cigar, and was about lighting another, when Jim made his
appearance.

'Beg pardon, Massa K----,' said the negro, bowing very low, 'but I
wants to ax you one or two tings, ef you please, sar.'

'Well,' I replied, 'I'll answer any thing that I ought to.'

'Der yer tink, den, massa, dat dey'll git to fightin' at Charls'on?'

'Yes, judging by the tone of the Charleston papers you've read to-day, I
think they will.'

'And der yer tink dat de rest ob de Souf will jine wid Souf Car'lina, if
she go at it fust?'

'Yes, Jim, I'm inclined to think so.'

'I hard you say to massa, dat ef dey goes to war,'twill free all de
niggers--der you raily b'lieve dat, sar?'

'_You_ heard me say that; how did you hear it?' I exclaimed, in
surprise.

'Why, sar, de front winder ob de carriage war down jess a crack, and I
hard all you said.'

'Did you let it down on purpose?'

'P'r'aps so, massa. Whot's de use ob habin' ears, ef you don't h'ar?'

'Well, I suppose not much; and you tell all you hear to the other
negroes?'

'I reckon so, massa,' said the darky, looking very demure.

'That's the use of having a tongue, eh?' I replied, laughing.

'Dat's it 'zaxly, massa.'

'Well, Jim, I do think the slaves will be finally freed; but it will
cost more white blood to do it than all the niggers in creation are
worth. Do you think the darkies would fight for their freedom?'

'Fight, sar!' exclaimed the negro, straightening up his fine form, while
his usual good-natured look--passed from his face and gave way to an
expression that made him seem more like an incarnate fiend than a human
being; 'FIGHT, sar; gib dem de chance, and den see.'

'Why are you discontented? You have been at the North, and you know the
blacks are as well off as the majority of the poor laboring men there.'

'You say dat to me, Massa K----; you don't say it to de _Cunnel_. We are
not so well off as de pore man at de Norf! You knows dat, sar. He hab
his wife and children, and his own home; what hab we, sar? No wife, no
children, no home; all am de white man's. Der yer tink we wouldn't fight
to be free?' and