o. Is your husband away from home?'

'Yes, him and our Cal. ar down to Charles'n.'

'Cal. is your son, is he?'

'Yes, he's my oldest, and a likely lad he ar tu--He's twenty-one, and
his name ar JOHN CALHOUN MILLS. He's gone a troopin' it with
his fader.'

'What, both gone and left you ladies here alone?'

'Yes, the Cunnel sed every man orter go, and they warn't to be ahind the
rest. The Cunnel--Cunnel J.--looks arter us while they is away.'

'But I should think the Colonel looked after you poorly--giving you
nothing to eat.'

'Oh! it's ben sech a storm to-day, the gals couldn't go for the vittles,
though tain't a great way. We'r on his plantation; this house is his'n.'

This last was agreeable news, and it occurred to me that if we were so
near the Colonel's we might push on, and get there that night, in spite
of the storm; so I said,--

'Indeed; I'm going to the Colonel's. How far is his house from here?'

'A right smart six mile; it's at the Cross-roads. Ye know the Cunnel, du
ye?'

'Oh, yes, I know him well. If his house is not more than six miles off,
I think we had better go on to-night. What do you say, Scip?'

'I reckon we'd better gwo, massa,' replied the darky, who had spread my
traveling-shawl in the chimney-corner, and was seated on it, drying his
clothes.

'Ye'd better not,' said the woman; 'ye better stay har; thar's a right
smart run twixt har and the Cunnel's, and tain't safe to cross arter
dark.'

'If that is so we'd better stay, Scip; don't you think so?' I said to
the darky.

'Jess as you like, massa. We got tru wid de oder one, and I reckon
tain't no woss nor dat.'

'The bridge ar carried away, and ye'll have to swim _shore_,' said the
woman. 'Ye'd better stay.'

'Thank you, madam, I think we will,' I replied, after a moment's
thought; 'our horse has swum one of your creeks to-night, and I dare not
try another.'

I had taken off my coat, and had been standing, during the greater part
of this conversation, in my shirt-sleeves before the fire, turning round
occasionally to facilitate the drying process, and taking every now and
then a sip from the gourd containing our brandy and water; aided in the
latter exercise by the old woman and the eldest girl, who indulged quite
as freely as I did.

'Mighty good brandy that,' at last said the woman. 'Ye like brandy,
don't ye?'

'Not very much, madam. I take it to-night because I've been exposed to
the storm, and it stimulates the circ