house was asleep, he hastened, with two of
his sons, to a lane, where he had made an appointment with the negroes
to meet him and accompany him to his boat, which was ready to start. He
found half-a-dozen of the negroes, and, advising them not to speak
before they were fairly off the plantation, desired them to follow him
to the boat; but, to his astonishment, he soon discovered that the lane
was occupied with other negroes and white men, armed with the
much-dreaded cow-hides. He called out to his two sons to fly, but it
was too late.

The general and his two sons were undoubtedly accustomed to such
disasters, for they showed amazing dexterity in taking advantage of the
angles of the fences, to evade the lashes: but, in spite of all their
devices, they were cruelly punished, as they had nearly a quarter of a
mile of gauntlet to run through before they were clear of the lane. In
vain they groaned, and swore, and prayed; the blows fell thicker and
thicker, principally from the hands of the negroes, who, having now and
then tasted of the cow-hide, were in high glee at the idea of flogging
white men.

The worshipful general and his dutiful sons at last arrived at their
boat, quite exhausted, and almost fainting under the agony! of the
well-applied lashes. Once on board, they cut their cable, and pushed
into the middle of the stream; and although Meyer had come down the
river at least ten times since, he always managed to pass the plantation
during night, and close to the bank of the opposite shore.

I told Mr Courtenay what I knew myself about General John Meyer; while
I was talking, his attention was attracted by a noise near the stables,
which were situated at the bottom of a lane, before our windows. We
immediately suspected that there would be an attempt to steal our
horses; so I handed my rifle to my companion, who posted himself in a
position commanding the lane, through which the thief or thieves must
necessarily pass.

We waited thus in suspense for a few minutes, till Mr Courtenay desired
me to take his place, saying,--"If any one passes the lane with any of
our horses, shoot him; I will go down myself and thrash the blackguard,
for I suspect the parson will turn them into the swamps, where he is
pretty certain of recovering them afterwards."

Saying this, he advanced to the door, and was just putting his hand upon
the latch, when we heard a most terrific yell, which was followed by a
neighing, which I