Part 5 (2/2)

As soon as we arrived at the mansion, my master, who had not spoken to me since the day we came from Columbia, appeared at the front door, and ordered h a part of the house, and passed into the back yard, where I saw the young gentleentleman whom I did not know, the faether, and in earnest conversation At my appearance, the overseer opened a cellar door, and ordered o in

I had no suspicion of evil, and obeyed the order iht have been entlemen, all followed; and as soon as the cellar door was closed after us, by some one whom I could not see, I was ordered to pull off my clothes, and lie down oncords, and extended at full length between two of the bea

The stranger, who I now observed was itated, spoke to the doctor, who then opened a seons' instru to skin ht: ”But,” said the doctor, ”before you are skinned, you had better confess your crime” ”What crime, master, shall I confess? I have co to murder me?” waslady and her brother, ent fro before, anda murderer, I knew not what to say; and only continued the protestations of my innocence, and reatly enraged against me, and loaded me with maledictions and imprecations; and his father appeared to be as well satisfied as he was of uage

The doctor, during this ti atmy pulse, he said, it would not do to skin a man so full of blood as I was I should bleed so much that he could not see to do his work; and he should probably cut soe vein, or artery, by which I should bleed to death in a few minutes; it was necessary to bleed me in the arms for some time, so as to reduce the quantity of blood that was inround ht arm, and opened a vein near the e and san to feel faint, with the loss of blood, when the cellar door was thrown open, and several persons cahted candles

I looked at these people attentively, as they came near and stood around me, and expressed their satisfaction at the just and dreadful punisho Their faces were all new and unknown to nized as the sa, in company with his sister

My old master spoke to this boy by name, and told him to come and see the murderer of his sister receive his due The boy was a pretty youth, and wore his hair long, on the top of his head, in the fashi+on of that day As he caht of a candle, which the doctor held in his hand, shone full inthat the eyes of the boy met mine, I determined to make one more effort to savemistress, your sister?” The youth immediately looked at my master, and said, ”This is not thewool, like your Hardy”

My life was saved I was snatched from the most horrible of tortures, and fro of o up into the back yard of the house, where I was required to tell what I knew of the young lady and her brother on the previous day I stated that I had seen them in the court yard of the house, at the tione to the woods, to setthe road near e I had of them The boy was then required to examine me particularly, and ascertain whether I was, or was not, the man who had murdered his sister He said he had not seen me at the place where I stated I was, and that he was confident I was not the person who had attacked him and his sister That my hair, or wool, as he called it, was short; but that of the , like Hardy's, and that he was about the size of Hardy--not so large as I was, but black like me, and not yellow like Hardy Some one now asked where Hardy was, and he was called for, but could not be found in the kitchen Persons were sent to the quarter, and other places, in quest of him, but returned without him Hardy was nowhere to be found Whilst this inquiry, or rather search, was going on, perceiving that my old master had ceased to look upon me as a murderer, I asked him to please to tellfatal tolady, who had left the house on the previous evening in company with her brother, had been assailed on the road, about fourfrom a thicket, and snatched her fro a short distance behind her brother That the assassin, as soon as she was on the ground, struck her horse a bloith a long stick, which, together with the fright caused by the screams of its rider when torn from it, had caused it to fly off at full speed; and the horse of the brother also taking fright, followed in pursuit, notwithstanding all the exertions of the lad to stop it All the account the brother could give of the ro drag his sister into the woods, and heard her screams for a short time He was not able to stop his horse, until he reached hoave information to histhe woods all night, and all thelady

When intelligence of this horrid criht to the house of one to take the horse of the person--a young gentlehborhood--who bore it, and who immediately returned to join his friends in their search for the dead body

As soon as the one, Hardy had come to my master, and told hi him, he would disclose the perpetrator of the crime He was then ordered to com gone into the woods the day before, to hunt squirrels, he staid until it was late, and on his return ho the shrieks of a woman, he had proceeded cautiously to the place; but before he could arrive at the spot, the cries had ceased; nevertheless, he had foundlady, whom I had just killed, and that I was about to kill him too, with a hickory club, but he had saved his life by prolad to leave me, and what I had done with the body he did not know

Hardy was known in the neighborhood, and his character had been good I was a stranger, and on inquiry, the black people in the kitchen supported Hardy, by saying, that I had been seen going to the woods before night by the way of the road which the deceased had traveled

These circuainst me by uilty was the highest that can be co to the opinion of owners, it was determined to punish me in a way unknown to the law, and to inflict tortures upon me which the laould not tolerate I was now released, and though very weak fro, I was yet able to return to s

I had no doubt that Hardy was the perpetrator of the cri my life; and now recollected that when I was at the kitchen of the great house on Sunday, he had disappeared, a short ti to set my snares, but could not find him--I went back to the house, and communicated this fact to my master

By this ti, with the intention of going to search for the body of the lost lady; but it was now resolved to ive it the two-fold character of a pursuit of the living, as well as a seeking for the dead

I now returned to s in the quarter, and soon fell into a profound sleep, froht, when all was quiet, and the stillness of undisturbed tranquillity prevailed over our little community I felt restless, and sunk into a labyrinth of painful reflections, upon the horrid and perilous condition from which I had this day escaped, as it seemed, merely by chance; and as I slept until all sensations of drowsiness had left ht of thein the open air so, and deteraht oppossums in my snares; and, as these animals were very fat at this season of the year, I felt a hope that I ht I had been at my snares, and had returned, as far as the road, near where I had seen the young lady and her brother on horseback on Sunday evening, and had seated rew there It so happened that the place where I sat was in the shade of the bush, within a few feet of the road, but screened frohs In this position, which I had taken by accident, I could see a great distance along the road, towards the end of h covered as I was by the shade, and enveloped in boughs, it was difficult for a person in the road to see me

The occurrence that had befallen me, in the course of the previous day, had rendered me nervous, and easily susceptible of all the e in this place, when I thought I heard sounds, as of a person walking on the ground at a quick pace; and looking along the road, towards the lane I saw the forh a space in the road, where the bearound When thebody passed into the shade, I could not see it; but in a short time, it came so near that I could distinctly see that it was ame by the road When he came opposite me, and themulatto, named David, the coachman of alady, who resided somewhere near Charleston; but who had been at the house of my master, for two or three weeks, as a visiter, with her two daughters

Thisme; and the suspicion instantly riveted itself in my mind, that he was the murderer, for whose crime I had already suffered so much, and that he was now on his way to the place where he had left the body, for the purpose of re it in the earth I was confident, that no honest purpose could bring hiht, alone I was about two miles froirl had been seized

Of her subsequent murder, no one entertained a doubt; for it was not to be expected, that the felloho had been guilty of one great crinitude, and suffer his victim to exist, as a witness to identify his person

I felt aniainst the wretch, whoever he ht me so near to torture and death; and feeble and weak as I was, resolved to pursue the foot-steps of this coachman, at a wary and cautious distance, and ascertain, if possible, the object of his visit to these woods, at this tiht

I waited until he had passed me more than a hundred yards, and until I could barely discover his forht of the deep shade of the trees, when stealing quietly into the road, I folloith the caution of a spy traversing the camp of an enemy--We were now in a dark pine forest, and on both sides of us were tracts of loaround, covered with thickets so dense as to be difficult of penetration even by a person on foot The road led along a neck of elevated and dry ground, that divided these swamps for more than a round that produced scarcely any other timber than a scrubby kind of oak, called black jack It was ast these black jacks, about half a mile beyond the swamps, that the lady had been carried off I had often been here, for the purpose of snaring and trapping the saraphy of this forest, for some distance, on both sides of the road

It was necessary for ed in The road ere now traveling, was in no place very broad, and at soe to pass between the trees, that lined its sides In some places, it was so dark that I could not see the ed to depend on the sound, produced by the tread of his feet, upon the ground I deemed it necessary to keep as close as possible to the object of my pursuit, lest he should suddenly turn into the swailance; for I had no doubt that he would quit the road, sorounds, my anxiety became intense, lest he should escape me; and at one time, I could not have been more than one hundred feet behind him; but he continued his course, until he reached the oak woods, and came to a place where an old cart-road led off to the left, along the side of the Dark Swahborhood