"Now, dearest Bessy," I said, as soon as the man was gone, "you had better go into the other room and lie down to rest. Take Jenny with you, and I will remain here. That man will keep his word with us, depend upon it, and we shall see no more of them. But, as a precaution, I will push this table against the door, so that no one can take us by surprise."

"But you want sleep yourself, Richard," she said.

"I will get some in this corner, where it is dry," I answered. And, after some persuasion, she left me. Did I sleep? Oh, no. Not only the necessity of watching to guard against any intrusion kept me awake, but I had pleasant--nay, joyful--thoughts to dwell upon. I had discovered a secret, at least I thought so, upon which all my future happiness depended; and the happy reveries which followed might well occupy the two or three hours which remained of night. At the end of that time I could perceive a faint greyish light, glimmering through the chinks of the rude shutters; and I thought I might as well reconnoitre the ground without. I did not feel sure that the negroes had quitted the neighbourhood; and though I was inclined to believe that, after what had passed, they would offer us no violence, even if we encountered them; yet there is so much uncertainty and even treachery in the character of all barbarous people that ever I have seen, that I did not like to risk taking Bessy from the shelter of the hut till I was sure the man had gone. Partly removing the shutter, so as to leave perhaps half a hand's breadth for sight, I gazed out upon the wild and desolate scene presented by the Swamp, which looked more wild and desolate than ever, in that dull and unconfirmed light. All was still and quiet; and no moving object met my eye for a moment or two, till I saw the grass agitated slightly, not a couple of steps from the front of the hut. An instant after, a huge rattlesnake dragged himself sluggishly out of the long, dry grass, and crawled lazily towards a little knoll where the light fell most strongly. He seemed as if he were going out to take his morning's walk before his human enemies came abroad. The next instant I beheld one of those beautiful creatures called the king-snake, not half the size of the other, dash out in his checkered coat of jet-black and ivory-white, and dart at the great sluggish reptile. A desperate fight ensued. They coiled one with the other; they bit, they struck at each other with their heads; and I could hardly imagine that the great rattlesnake could not easily destroy his little antagonist. But I was mistaken. At the end of three minutes, the rattlesnake lay writhing on the ground in the agonies of death, and the king-snake, apparently uninjured, glided round and round several times, evidently calculating whether there was any possibility of swallowing him. That was impossible, however, from the relative size of the two creatures; and, contented with his victory, the brilliant little conqueror glided away.

"How happy it would be," I thought, "if, in the world of human life, the reptiles thus destroyed each other--ay, and so they do sometimes." I knew not how soon I should see my fancy verified. While I was thus pondering, I thought I heard a faint and distant sound; but it seemed to me as if, mingled in the noise, were tones of the human voice, and the footfalls of several horses. Before the hut, as I have said, and hiding it, but only partially hiding it, as I found afterwards, from one of the paths across the Swamp, was a clump of bushes, with a tall pyramidal cedar or two rising up in the midst. I dare say, in the confusion of objects, the trees, the bushes, the green and yellow leaves, the fallen trunks, cast in every wild variety of attitude; the plashy ground, and here and there a higher piece of sandy bank with gray and yellow surfaces, thousands of people might pass along that way without a suspicion that any cabin was near. Still it was not fully concealed; and afterwards, when I passed along that very path, knowing where it lay, I could clearly distinguish the lines of the little gable with its thatch. I listened eagerly, and the sounds grew more and more distinct--horses' feet beating hard and fast, and people talking. A minute after I could discern the party through the branches--three white men on horseback, and a stout young negro. They were bidden again; but in another moment I saw them more distinctly, and I recognized Robert Thornton and his father. The other white man's appearance was somewhat familiar to me, but I could not remember where I had seen him before. It was that of the man, Matthew Leary, who had accompanied Robert Thornton when first I encountered him, and whom Billy Byles had described "as a man who would sell his own father, if he could find any man to buy him." They passed on behind the clump of bushes, right in front; and, thinking them gone, I was turning to wake Bessy, in order that we might find the horses, which I could perceive nowhere in the neighbourhood, and then proceed across the Swamp as fast as possible. Suddenly, however, I was stopped by the sound of voices again quite near. I put my eye to the chink, which I had nearly closed; and, somewhat to my consternation, beheld the whole party before the hut.

"Why, I told you so!" cried old Mr. Thornton. "It is a cabin by ----. Who the devil built it here, I wonder?"

"Well, come along, come along, father!" cried Robert Thornton, in an impatient and even angry tone; "if you dawdle on in this way, we shall miss our mark entirely. You can come back and see all about this when we have got her off. I tell you, if they catch hold of her, and bring her back, we are ruined." He muttered something about an old fool; and his tender father called somebody a d--d jackanapes. But the old man seemed habitually under the control of his worthy son, and he rode on in the end, though apparently very unwillingly. As they passed onward, a negro drew partly out from amongst the bushes, with a gun in his hand, which he raised for a moment to his shoulder, but then let it drop again, as if he doubted his distance or his aim. The next moment he glided back quietly into the bushes, and disappeared entirely. I continued to watch for a minute or two; and once I thought I saw a dark face appear as if gazing out in the direction which Mr. Thornton's party had taken; but it was seen only for an instant, and I turned to think what had best be done. The question became, what was the greatest risk? Mr. Thornton, I judged, was very likely to return as soon as he found that Bessy was liberated; but, whatever violence he might venture to indulge in towards the comparatively unprotected negroes, I felt assured that he would hesitate a good deal before he would enter into a struggle which he knew must be carried to extremity with white people. On the other hand, Nat Turner and his companions had bound themselves by no very extensive engagement. They had promised us security during that night; but they might well look upon the bond as extending no further; and, moreover, the great moral power of responsibility was taken from them. They had dared and incurred the utmost penalty that human laws could pronounce; no mercy shown towards us could atone for their past inconceivable guilt; no fresh murder, no fresh barbarity could add one iota to the punishment which they were certain of receiving in this world. If they were not watching for our coming forth, why did they remain hiding there in the bushes just opposite the hut? I could not but suspect, also, that, hampered as I had left them, the horses could not have got out of sight without having been removed. Added to these thoughts came the considerations, that if we went out from the hut we could be attacked on any side, unaided by any or either party; but that as long as we remained within it, I could defend the door with very little difficulty against a more numerous force than I had yet seen; and, in addition, I thought that it was more than probable the sheriff, when he found, on returning to his own house, that neither I nor Bessy had returned, would scour the country along the state-line, and, perhaps, even pass it in search of us. Bessy still slept soundly, to all appearance; and at length, after much hesitation, I determined not to rouse her. I employed, the time in sawing out, with the old saw which lay in the corner, several stout pins and bolts to fasten the door. For this purpose I took part of the table, and in a short time I made the entrance secure. The shutters of the windows ran in grooves, and the woodwork, both of them and of the door, was almost an inch and a half thick; which, though penetrable by a musket-ball, was sufficient to deaden the shot greatly. There were no apertures at the back of the house: the square aperture which served for a window, commanded the only approach; and, satisfied that my little castle was fortified as far as possible, I waited, watching to see if the negroes would quit the covert, though I had some apprehension that they might make their exit on the opposite side. I had hardly resumed my post at the window a minute, when Bessy crept up to my side. The noise of the axe and the saw had awakened her; and I had to tell her all that had occurred, and to go over with her all the reasonings which induced me to remain where we were. She seemed to have an unquestioning faith in my decisions; and while I tightly fastened up the window in the other room where she had been sleeping, she kept watch in the first room, never moving from the spot where I had placed her.

"Nothing has moved," she said, as I rejoined her; "not a twig has quivered, not a rain-drop has fallen from a leaf."

"Then probably the men remain there still," I answered; "for I suspect they have horses with them, and the batch of bushes is too narrow for any large body to move out unperceived."

"I do not think," observed Bessy, after meditating for a moment or two, "that there is any fear of violence from Mr. Thornton or his party. Robert is a coward, I am sure. He may bolster himself up to some degree of determination when he is forced to it by fear of the world; and he may do terrible and cruel acts where poor negroes or women are concerned. But he is always more or less cowed, as I have seen, when he is opposed to a free man, and more especially to a gentleman. He does not seem to know how to act; and, in his hesitation, he gets alarmed."

"I agree with you," I replied; "for although in the unfortunate affair between himself and me he did not actually show want of nerve, I could plainly perceive he would a great deal rather have avoided fighting, had it been possible. But see! there is something moving in the bushes." It certainly was so, and the movement was towards the side at which we were standing, but nobody issued forth; and after waiting for a few minutes more, sharing in my watch, Bessy left me to call old Jenny, who had slept uninterruptedly through all that had taken place. The good old cook set to work at once to light a fire again; and I did not think it worth while to prevent her, for the negroes already knew that we were there; and if Mr. Thornton came at all, it would be to search the place, so that the treacherous signal of the smoke could do us no harm. Indeed, in the present instance, it did us much good. Our breakfast was destined to be very scanty. Bread, there was very little. The fish was all consumed; and some eggs, which aunt Jenny roasted in the ashes, were all that remained of the more solid fare. Worst of all, we had no water; and I perceived, with no light apprehension, that if our enemies could not take us by storm, they might soon starve us out by a blockade. We took it by turns to watch and to eat, making old Jenny breakfast first; but she had not assumed her post at the window for three minutes, when she exclaimed,--

"Here dey comin', mas'r--here dey comin'!" Starting up, I ran to her side. I instantly saw the party, and distinguished who they were. Mr. William Thornton and his son had visited the old place, as they called it; found that I had taken Miss Davenport away, fixed at once upon the cabin they had seen in the wood, and pursued us thither. They had dismounted at some little distance, had given the horses to the negro-boy, and were approaching towards the hut on foot, when I saw them. I placed on the table the powder and the slugs, and the two pistols ready loaded.

"Bessy," I said, "can you load rapidly, as soon as I have fired, in case of need?"

"Yes, yes," she answered, "I have seen it done often. I am sure I can do it."

"Then you stand between me and the table, Jenny," I said, "and hand the weapons to and fro. As soon as I have fired, if I should have occasion to fire, give me another weapon. One man here," I added, with a smile to encourage them, "is equal to five or six without." I then pushed back the shutter a little more, leaned the muzzle of the gun upon the sill, and looked out, careless of further concealment. Mr. Thornton's party, that is to say, the three white men, had stopped at the distance of about one hundred and fifty yards from the cabin, apparently to consult. But a moment after they turned to march forward again, and their eyes instantly fell upon me at the window.