in. A dozen men crowded into the house, demanding that a
light be struck instantly. As the match gave its first flash of light,
one of the visitors said:

"Well, K----, we've got you this time."

"That," said another, "is no K----; that is Walter Owen, who used to
be overseer on Stewart's plantation."

"What are you doing here?" demanded another.

Mr. Owen, trembling in his night-clothes, replied that he had been
engaged to stay there as overseer.

"Where is K----, and where is Colburn?"

"Mr. Colburn hasn't been here since last Monday. Mr. K---- has gone to
Natchez."

"That's a ---- lie," said one of the guerrillas. "We know he came here
at two o'clock this afternoon, and was here at dark. He is somewhere
around this house."

In vain did Owen protest I was not there. Every room and every
closet in the house was searched. A pile of bagging in a garret was
overhauled, in the expectation that I was concealed within it. Even
the chimneys were not neglected, though I doubt if the smallest of
professional sweeps could pass through them. One of the guerrillas
opened a piano, to see if I had not taken refuge under its cover. They
looked into all possible and impossible nooks and corners, in the
hope of finding me somewhere. At last they gave up the search, and
contented themselves with promising to catch both Colburn and myself
before long.

"We want to go through those d--d Abolitionists, and we will do it,
too. They may dodge us for a while, but we will have them by-and-by."

Not being privileged to "go through" me as they had anticipated, the
gentlemanly guerrillas went through the overseer. They took his money,
his hat, his pantaloons, and his saddle. His horse was standing in
the stable, and they took that also. They found four of our mules, and
appropriated them to their own use. They frightened one of the negroes
into telling where certain articles were concealed, and were thus
enabled to carry off a goodly amount of plunder. They threatened Mr.
Owen with the severest punishment, if he remained any longer on the
plantation. They possessed themselves of a "protection" paper which
Mrs. B. had received from the commander at Natchez several months
before, and were half inclined to burn her buildings as a punishment
for having sought the favor of the Yankees. Their stay was of only an
hour's duration.

From our plantation the robbers went to the one next above, where they
were more fortunate in finding the les