‘What—­what the d——­l is the matter?’ stammered out the sleeper, gradually opening his eyes, and raising himself on one elbow, ’Lord bless you, Cunnel, is thet you? what in——­brought you har?’

’Business, Andy.  Come, get up, I want to see you, and I can’t talk here.’

The North-Carolinian slowly rose, and throwing his blanket over his shoulders, followed us from the room.  When we had reached the open air the Colonel introduced me to his friend, who expressed surprise, and a great deal of pleasure, at meeting a Northern Union man in the Colonel’s company.

‘Look after our horses, now, Miles; Andy and I want to talk,’ said the planter to the landlord, with about as little ceremony as he would have shown to a negro.

I thought the white man did not exactly relish the Colonel’s manner, but saying:  ‘All right, all right, sir,’ he took himself away.

The night was raw and cold, but as all the rooms of the hotel were occupied, either by sleepers or carousers, we had no other alternative than to hold our conference in the open-air.  Near the railway-track a light-wood fire was blazing, and, obeying the promptings of the frosty atmosphere, we made our way to it.  Lying on the ground around it, divested of all clothing except a pair of linsey trowsers and a flannel shirt, and with their naked feet close to its blaze—­roasting at one extremity, and freezing at the other—­were several blacks, the switch-tenders and woodmen of the station—­fast asleep.  How human beings could sleep in such circumstances seemed a marvel, but further observation convinced me that the Southern negro has a natural aptitude for that exercise, and will, indeed, bear more exposure than any other living thing.  Nature in giving him such powers of endurance, seems to have specially fitted him for the life of hardship and privation to which he is born.

The fire-light enabled me to scan the appearance of my new acquaintance.  He was rather above the medium height, squarely and somewhat stoutly built, and had an easy and self-possessed, though rough and unpolished manner.  His face, or so much of it as was visible from underneath a thick mass of reddish gray hair, denoted a firm, decided character; but there was a manly, open, honest expression about it that won your confidence in a moment.  He wore a slouched hat and a suit of the ordinary ‘sheep’s-gray,’ cut in the ‘sack’ fashion, and hanging loosely about him.  He seemed a man who had made his own way in the world, and I subsequently learned that appearances did not belie him.  The son of a ‘poor white’ man, with scarcely the first rudiments of book-education, he had, by sterling worth, natural ability, and great force of character, accumulated a handsome property, and acquired a leading position in his adopted district.  Though on ’the wrong side of politics,’ his personal popularity was so great that for several successive years he had been elected to represent his county in the State