d
case, massa; but dis yer darkey'll do de best he can. Can't get nuffin'
on this plantation, but reckon I can buy some 'tatoes down at Massa
Smith's, three miles from yer, and will go down thar after I finish my
task to-morrer. As to meat," he said, "you know, massa, dat in the Souf
de slave takes what de white folks frows away, and I reckon you all
couldn't eat a tainted ham dat ole massa gib me t'other day; but if you
can, God knows dis chile gibs it to you wid all his heart." Having
become, from long fasting, almost entirely indifferent to the sense of
taste, our friends gave Old Richard to understand that the ham would be
welcome.

The important question of rations having been thus satisfactorily
arranged, Richard was asked to guide the fugitives to some place of
hiding, where no rebel could find them. Accordingly, they were conducted
to a swamp, and soon discovered a secure place of concealment for the
day. "The whippoorwill and turtle-dove," Captain Glazier writes,
"enlivened the hours with their inspiring notes, and as night began to
approach, the gloomy owl, from the tree-tops, uttered his solemn warning
cry. The pine and cypress, swayed by the breeze, moaned a perpetual
chorus, and under their teaching we learned, during the long, dreary
hours, how much we were indebted to these dismal wilds, that concealed
both friend and foe.

"Here the rebel deserter concealed himself from his pursuers. Here the
loyalist found a hiding-place from the rebel conscripting officer. Here
the trembling negro had his first taste of freedom. Here the escaped
Union prisoner was enabled to baffle blood-hounds and human-hounds, and
make his way to the Federal lines."

The day wore away at length, and as darkness was approaching, Old
Richard, true to his promise, was on hand with the supplies. He gave the
fugitives all he had been able to purchase with his small means, and
they, after asking God to bless him for his kindness, departed. Our
friends trudged away, rejoicing, notwithstanding their fatigue, and the
bodily weakness of Glazier. For the latter had by this time been reduced
in weight to not more than ninety pounds, his usual weight having been
about one hundred and forty-five. He was still, however, filled with
indomitable "pluck," and a determination to conquer the situation, with
all its dread horrors, and return to his colors. Wright, on the other
hand, had a splendid physique, and cared little for hardships that would
h