es his Tone 252

CHAP. XXIV.--The Young Fugitives make a Harbor 264

WATCH AND WAIT.

WATCH AND WAIT;

OR,

THE YOUNG FUGITIVES.

CHAPTER I.

THE PLANTATION OF REDLAWN.

One soft summer evening, when Woodville was crowned with the glory and
beauty of the joyous season, three strangers presented themselves before
the Grant family, and asked for counsel and assistance. The party
consisted of two boys and a girl, and they belonged to that people which
the traditions of the past have made the "despised race;" but the girl
was whiter and fairer than many a proud belle who would have scorned her
in any other capacity than that of a servant; and one of the boys was
very nearly white, while the other was as black as ebony undefiled. They
were fugitives and wanderers from the far south-west; and the story
which they told to Mr. Grant and his happy family will form the
substance of this volume.

* * * * *

The plantation of Colonel Baylie Raybone was situated on one of the
numerous bayous which form a complete network of water communications in
the western part of the parish of Iberville, in the State of Louisiana.
The "colonel," whose military title was only a courtesy accorded to his
distinguished position, was a man of immense possessions, and
consequently of large influence. His acres and his negroes were numbered
by thousands, and he was largely engaged in growing sugar and rice. The
estate on which he resided went by the name of Redlawn. His mansion was
palatial in its dimensions, and was furnished in a style of regal
magnificence.

The region in which Redlawn was situated was a low country, subject to
inundation in the season of high water. The sugar plantation was located
on a belt of land not more than a mile in width, upon the border of the
bayou, which, contrary to the usual law, was higher ground than portions
farther from the river. The lower lands were used for the culture of
rice, which, our young readers know, must be submerged during a part of
the year.

A short distance from the splendid mansion of the princely planter was a
large village of negro huts, where the "people" of the estate resided.
As Colonel Raybone was a liberal and progressive man, the houses of the
negroes were far superior to those found upon many of the plantations of
the South. They were well built, neatly white-washed, and no doubt the
negroes who dwelt in t