over his face, and--he was 'gone whar de
good darkies go.'

CHAPTER XX.

On the following day Frank and I were to resume our journey; and, in the
morning, I suggested that we should visit Colonel Dawsey, with whom,
though he had for many years been a correspondent of the house in which
I was a partner, I had no personal acquaintance.

His plantation adjoined Preston's, and his house was only a short half
mile from my friend's. After breakfast, we set out for it through the
woods. The day was cold for the season, with a sharp, nipping air, and
our overcoats were not at all uncomfortable.

As we walked along I said to Preston:

'Dawsey's 'account' is a good one. He never draws against shipments, but
holds on, and sells sight drafts, thus making the exchange.'

'Yes, I know; he's a close calculator.'

'Does he continue to manage his negroes as formerly?'

'In much the same way, I reckon.'

'Then he can't stand remarkably well with his neighbors.'

'Oh! people round here don't mind such things. Many of them do as badly
as he. Besides, Dawsey is a gentleman of good family. He inherited his
plantation and two hundred hands.'

'Indeed! How, then, did he become reduced to his present number?'

'He was a wild young fellow, and, before he was twenty-five, had
squandered and gambled away everything but his land and some thirty
negroes. Then he turned square round, and, from being prodigal and
careless, became mean and cruel. He has a hundred now, and more ready
money than any planter in the district.'

A half hour's walk took us to Dawsey's negro quarters--a collection of
about thirty low huts in the rear of his house. They were not so poor as
some I had seen on cotton and rice plantations, but they seemed unfit
for the habitation of any animal but the hog. Their floors were the bare
ground, hardened by being moistened with water and pounded with mauls;
and worn, as they were, several inches lower in the centre than at the
sides, they must have formed, in rainy weather, the beds of small lakes.
So much water would have been objectionable to white tenants; but
negroes, like their friends the alligators, are amphibious animals; and
Dawsey's were never known to make complaint. The chimneys were often
merely vent-holes in the roof, though a few were tumble-down structures
of sticks and clay; and not a window, nor an opening which courtesy
could have christened a window, was to be seen in the entire collection.
And, f