ty. He would not accept it. He would not part from us. He is
there!"

As the narrator said this, he pointed to Cudjo, who stood hanging by the
door-post; and, delighted at these compliments which were being paid
him, was showing his white teeth in a broad and affectionate smile.

Rolfe continued:--

"When the sale was completed, and the account settled, I found that I
had just five hundred pounds left. I had now some experience in
farming; and I resolved to move out to the West--into the great valley
of the Mississippi. I knew that there my five hundred pounds would
still set me up again in a farm as big as I wanted, where the timber was
still growing upon it.

"Just at this time my eye fell upon some flaming advertisements in the
newspapers, about a new city which was then being built at the junction
of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It was called `Cairo,' and as it
was situated on the fork between two of the largest and most navigable
rivers in the world, it could not fail in a few years to become one of
the largest cities in the world. So said the advertisement. There were
maps of the new city everywhere, and on these were represented theatres,
and banks, and court-houses, and churches of different religious
denominations. There were lots offered for sale, and, along with these,
small tracts of land adjoining the town--so that the inhabitants might
combine the occupations of merchant and agriculturist. These lots were
offered very cheap, thought I; and I did not rest, night nor day, until
I had purchased one of them, and also a small farm in the adjacent
country.

"Almost as soon as I had made the purchase, I set out to take
possession. Of course, I took with me my wife and children. I had now
three--the two eldest being twins and about nine years old. I did not
intend to return to Virginia any more. Our faithful Cudjo accompanied
us to our far Western home.

"It was a severe journey, but not so severe as the trial that awaited us
on our arrival at `Cairo.' As soon as I came within sight of the place,
I saw, to use an expressive phrase, that I had been `sold' again. There
was but one house, and that stood upon the only ground that was not a
swamp. Nearly the whole site of the proposed city was under water, and
the part not wholly inundated consisted of a dark morass, covered with
trees and tall reeds! There were no theatres, no churches, no
court-houses, no banks, nor any likelihood there e