Seth was certainly proving a Job’s comforter; and I was already sufficiently troubled about the final outcome of my adventure.  Hence my only hope of retaining any measure of courage was to discountenance further conversation, and we continued to jog along in silence, although I caught him looking at me several times in a manner that expressed volumes.

We camped that night in the dense heart of some oak woods, beside a pleasant stream of clear, cool water.  Late the following evening, just as the sun was disappearing behind the trees, our wearied horses emerged suddenly upon the bank of a broad river, and we could discern the dim outlines of Hawkins’s buildings amid the deepening shadows of the opposite shore.

Upon one thing I was now fully determined.  Seth should start back with the first streak of the next dawn.  His long face and dismal croakings kept me constantly upon nettles, and I felt that I should face the uncertain future with far stouter heart if he were out of my sight.  Firm in this resolve, I urged my horse to splash his reluctant way through the shallows of the ford; and as our animals rose on the steep bank of the western shore, we found ourselves at once in the midst of a group of scattered buildings.  It seemed quite a settlement in that dim light, although the structures were all low and built of logs.  The largest and most centrally located of these was evidently the homestead, as it had a rudely constructed porch in front, and a thin cloud of smoke was drifting from its chimney.  As I drew nearer, I could perceive the reflection of a light streaming out through the open doorway.

No one appeared in answer to our shouting,—­not even a stray dog; and, in despair of thus arousing the inhabitants, I flung my rein to Seth, and, mounting the doorstep, peered within.  As I did so, a shiny, round, black face, with whitened eyes and huge red lips, seemed to float directly toward me through the inner darkness.  It was so startling an apparition that I sprang back in such haste as nearly to topple over backward from the steps.  Heaven alone knows what I fancied it might be; indeed, I had little enough time in which to guess, for I had barely touched the ground,—­my mind still filled with memories of Seth’s grotesque horrors,—­when the whole figure emerged into view, and I knew him instantly for a negro, though I had never before seen one of his race.  He was a dandified-looking fellow, wearing a stiff white waistcoat fastened by gilded buttons, with a pair of short curly mustaches, waxed straight out at the ends; and he stood there grinning at me in a manner that showed all his gleaming teeth.  Before I could recover my wits enough to address him, I heard a voice from within the house,—­a soft, drawling voice, with a marked foreign accent clinging to it.

“Sam,” it called, “have you found either of the scoundrelly rascals?”

The darkey started as if shot, and glanced nervously back over his shoulder.