The fellow was in poor case, and begged for food, saying
he was starving. I, therefore, desired the men to supply him with some
dried venison and bread, which he ate with avidity. He refused to tell
me his master's name, but said there were hundreds of negroes fighting
with the Indians, six from the same plantation as himself. My companions
were at first intent upon securing him, but being averse to that
course, I dared them to do it; when, seeing I was fully determined on
this point, they did not insist. Pointing to the hammock, after giving
him a dram of brandy, I bid him be off, when he darted like a deer into
the thicket, and disappeared from our view, with a loud shout of
exultation.
About ten miles further on, as we passed the edge of a dense hammock, we
heard the bay of an Indian dog, and fearing the proximity of a party of
marauders, we were instantly on the alert. The dog did not, however,
come out of the wood, and we rode from the dangerous vicinity with all
dispatch. Arrived again at Fort Andrews, without any further adventure
worth recording, we found a party of volunteers about to proceed to Fort
Pleasant, in the direction we were going.
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