way to Natchez. The plan was successful. From two
to a half-dozen mules were obtained daily. During the two weeks of my
absence nearly fifty mules were purchased, placing the plantation in
good order for active prosecution of our planting enterprise. At
the same time many lessees in our vicinity were unable to commence
operations, owing to their inability to obtain working stock.

The negroes discovered that the mule market was not well supplied, and
some of the more enterprising and dishonest sons of Ham endeavored
to profit by the situation. Frequently mules would be offered at
a suspiciously low price, with the explanation that the owner was
anxious to dispose of his property and return home. Some undertook
nocturnal expeditions, ten or twenty miles into the interior, where
they stole whatever mules they could find. A few of the lessees
suffered by the loss of stock, which was sold an hour after it was
stolen, and sometimes to the very party from whom it had been taken.
We took every care to avoid buying stolen property, but were sometimes
deceived.

On one occasion I purchased a mule of a negro who lived at Waterproof.
The purchase was made an hour before sunset, and the animal was stolen
during the night. On the following morning, Colburn bought it again
of the same party with whom I had effected my trade. After this
occurrence, we adopted the plan of branding each mule as soon as it
came into our hands. All the lessees did the same thing, and partially
protected each other against fraud.

White men were the worst mule-thieves, and generally instructed the
negroes in their villainy. There were several men in Natchez who
reduced mule-stealing to a science, and were as thoroughly skilled
in it as Charley Bates or the Artful Dodger in the science of picking
pockets. One of them had four or five white men and a dozen negroes
employed in bringing stock to market. I think he retired to St. Louis,
before the end of May, with ten or twelve thousand dollars as the
result of three months' industry.

Some of the lessees resorted to questionable methods for supplying
their plantations with the means for plowing and planting. One of
them occupied a plantation owned by a man who refused to allow his own
stock to be used. He wished to be neutral until the war was ended.

This owner had more than sixty fine mules, that were running loose in
the field. One day the lessee told the owner that he had purchased
a lot of mules at