tion, for they were a rough looking set, and probably there was
not one among them who did not plume himself upon his skill as a
fighter; but Rodney was not afraid of them, for he had seen such men
before.

"One of you fellers put that hoss under kiver, and stranger, you come
with me," said Jeff, raising Rodney's trunk from the ground and placing
it upon his shoulder. "It's little we've got to offer you, and you look
as though you might be used to good living; but you're welcome to such
as we've got, and we're glad to see you. Now we'd like to have you tell
us, if you can, what all this here furse is about," he went on, when he
had conducted his guest into a log cabin that stood at the top of the
bank, and deposited the trunk beside the open fire-place. "What made
them abolitionists come down here all of a sudden to take our niggers
away from us?"

"Because they are envious--jealous of our prosperity," replied Rodney,
drawing up a nail keg and seating himself upon it. "They have to work
every day and we don't; and that's what's the matter with them. They
don't care a cent for the negroes. They used to own slaves themselves."

All the wood-choppers, with the exception of the one who had taken it
upon himself to "put the hoss under kiver," had followed Jeff and Rodney
into the cabin, and they were profoundly astonished by the last words
that fell from the boy's lips. It was a matter of history that was quite
new to them.

"Where be them slaves now?" asked Jeff.

"They were given their freedom."

"Well, I always knowed them Yankees was fules, but I don't for the life
of me see what they done that fur."

"Oh, it wasn't because they were sorry for the negro," exclaimed Rodney.
"It was because they couldn't use him. They would have slaves to-day if
they could make a dollar by it. You let the Yanks alone for that. Why,
when these troubles began, we didn't have percussion caps enough to
fight a battle with, and Captain Semmes went up North and bought a big
supply; and the men of whom he bought them knew what he was going to do
with them, and offered to make contracts with him to send him all he
wanted and could pay for."

"What's the reason they couldn't use the niggers up there?" asked one of
the woodchoppers.

"Because their land is mostly mountains and rocks, and they can't work
it on as a big a scale as we do," replied Rodney, trying to use language
that his ignorant auditors could readily understand. "They gain