Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-28

| that to succeed We must don our natural
characters, or ut least appear az white
men.
II set Lemuei and the other men to work
roofing and liking the house to make 1t
comfortable. and Lucy Will have general
superintendent OF the camp. they are
used to obeying her. then told them that
a white man would be their guide out of the
swamp.
not to lose sight OF the camp. to be as quiet
as possible and keep but little fire at night.
although l do not think any person will
ever see or hear them, the place is SO
lonesome and dismal.
About nightfall I reached the spot where
| l had left my horse. and after darkness
| had fairly set in, issued forth into the road,
| a white man, rode home, went to bed, en-
! ready for business. So. If you please we
| will open the store, and proceed to sell (by
| day. molasses, tea, coffee. or any other
commodity we have to our friends and
| Eeighbors, while we steal their negroes by
| night How's that, my boy, for a fire eat
| well. George" said I'VE only have
one chance now, and that is to play the
hand out"
! Yes" cried George, land no pack to
| draw FROM" friendly allusion to draw
| poker, game quite familiar in those days
| to many of the citizens of Louisiana, espe-
| cially those whose business called them to
| travel much upon the Mississippi steamers.
How long" 1 inquired do you propose
| to leave the fugtives in the swamp
| Three weeks at the very shortest. 1
want the excitement to subsde and the
| hunt in this vicinity over before l start.
| Not that 1 think there is chance of being
even remotely suspected. 1 even want to
| join in the hunt, but have such a hatred
| of old Coverly (and 1 know he would sooner
| draw a bead on me than on DEER that it
might look suspicious for me to be hunting
up his negroes. SO l guess will forego that
| pleasure. but wouldn't ] like to see the old
| devil sQurm as he thinks of his dollars in
| negroes and those negroes in the swamp.
| safe as the bank of New Orleans. Brad,
old fellow, you had better go. 1 can have
| the story secondhand; that will be some
| comfort"
II will do it, replied I.
1 sent Coverly word by Hannahs Pete
| that would come up and join them. Skew
| Bill Sneider was going to try the swamp
| the next day, and l agreed to go and bring
Terror"
Go, Brad, go, by all MEANS" said George
l went, leaving my companion in the
road about mile from the store. l turned
to the right up a road that led out to
small prairie, and giving my horse the rein
and touch with the spur, reached the edge
of the prairie in a few moments.
These Louisiana prairies are generally of
small extent, perhaps four ten miles
across, and usually bordered by a bayou or
swamp, sometimes both. and often as fer
tile as the Garden of Eden. but half cult
waited.
acres of virgin SOIL l drank in the fresh
morning air as thirsty man would pure
water, as l sped away over the bilowy
earth.
Bulwer's Paul Clifford was uppermost In
my thoughts, and l imagined George and
myself brace of modern heroes. Con-
science said, You rascals, you are but a |
couple of negroes stealersv' |
L had ridden perhaps two or three miles |
Wnen saw approaching me from the |
direction of what was then called Perry's |
Slough lay at the left of Coverly's and the |
sw amp that the slough ended in was at |
least sixteen miles distant from where |
George Wesner left the road with the fugi-
tfres. This swamp was a general refuge |
for runaways. and as it led to nowhere
when one of the unfortunates got into it
to use the expressive vernacular of Alta
kapas-he was there for sure" |
1t was an impossibility for him to escape |
upon the bayou, and should he make the |
attempt by land, the negro hunter and his |
savage mound soon pulled the poor wretch I!
down.
/ stopped my horse and waited the APP
proach Of the party. Foremost rode Dick |
Coverly. 1 rode up to him and extended nv |
hand. for had no quarrel with him, and |
did not think 1t policy to pick up Wesners, |
even if / felt SO inclined. Dick accosted me
very pleasantly.
Good morning, Mr. Bradley," |
Good MOI ming. Dick. What news from
the runaways? Are you on the trail?"
swamp, poor fools!"
What makes you think so?"
Wen. that's where they all go. We fol-
lowed the mules and found all of them in
side of three miles from the slough. When
they left the mules they must have taken
to the swamp
What do you propose to do?''
Leave them there for while and thew
Will be glad to come out, for 1t is not very
pleasant even for a niger to starve. as
they will surely do if they stay there. The
worst trouble is 1t will put us ont thIs
spring, SO We shall be obliged to buy or hire
| more help. We have pretty much made up
our minds to buy, then catch these and sell
mem: Ihat Will teach the rest of the boys
In this parish a lesson
agreed fully with Dick Coverly in this
matter, coming to the conclusion that as
long as his money held out to buy negroes
ours would hold out to steal them 7 rode
pack to the store, the hunt being in
definitely postponed
|. CHAPTER TX.
The winter dragged itself into spring be-
fore our preparations for flight were COM
plete. March IA came slowly along; for
two weeks the weather had been rainy and
foggy, the damp air from the gulf drifting |
in upon us. varied by an occasional visit |
OF masma from the overlooking swamps |
ana lagoons OF the mighty waters north. |
Our prairie roads were knee deep with the |
black mud of southwestern Louisiana. 1t
was an uncommonly wet and cold spring
lot ouF climate, where frost is seldom seen |
Our fugitives in the swamp we had not
seen since George left them; but we rested
secure. believing they We're safe. for if one
mad strayed out and been caught the news
would have flown on the wings of the wind
George had implicit confidence in Lemuel
Mason. and faith in Lucy's persuasive
powers to keep the little band together, to
say nothing of their own fears, which were
In themselves no inconsiderabie factor, in
keeping them quiet.
We had kept on selling goods and had
been doing some surveying-not a break |
in our everyday life. Still we felt that We
were living over mine liable at any time
to explode.
George had told the negroes that about
the 10th of March he would send guide |
to take them through to the promised land. |
To Lucy he explained everything-that cir
cumstances might delay him beyond that !
date, and to have no fears If they did. Yet |
he was very anxious to start, for the |
swamps were full and every little bayou a |
river, and boat navigation was compare |
lively easy.
The night of the 18th was dark and |
rainy. The clouds were low set in the |