per course, and yet I seemed to
be impelled that way. I soon came to a turnstile in the fence on one
side, and through this I passed without a moment's hesitation, although
there was nothing in sight except a narrow path. Some distance down the
path I came to a double row of negro cabins, about twenty on each side
of a narrow street, facing each other. I did not know what I was to do,
and to find a particular negro in that array of cabins without arousing
the whole outfit was a problem beyond me, yet, without any
consideration, doubt or even a halt, I passed across the end of the
street to the rear of the farther row of cabins, and down the back of
that row until I reached the nearest corner of the next to the last
house. Here I halted and stood still. Why, I do not know, but I did, and
it was my first halt since I had left my companions. Shortly after I
halted I heard a voice that I recognized say:

"Lay over dar, you Taylor!"

Here I was, right where I wished to be, and in a very short time I had
aroused the sleeping darkeys, to learn that they had lain down to rest
until the time appointed for the meeting, naturally falling fast
asleep. They reproached themselves for their neglect, and we were soon
on our way to the river bank, with a plentiful supply of food.

They asked me how I had found them, and I truthfully replied that I did
not know, at which they rolled their eyes and looked at me in a peculiar
manner, when I added that I was walking around the cabins in the hope of
finding someone awake, and heard Sam tell Taylor to roll over. This
satisfied them, but it has never satisfied me, for, while I heard the
voice almost as soon as I halted, I could have passed the cabin in the
short interval had I kept on, and in such event I could not have heard
what I did.

My going directly to the cabins may be attributed to the instinct which
sometimes leads men, and my passing to the rear of the farther cabins
first to an accident of direction, but I never could account, on any
theory of chance or instinct, for the coincidence of my halt at the
proper place at the only instant in which I could have heard the call of
Sam to Taylor.

We reached Rummel and Miller in so short a time after my departure from
them as to cause an inquiry from them as to how I had managed to find
the darkeys so quickly. I postponed explanation until later, and we
proceeded to business.

The negroes had cooked us a goodly amount of hog meat and