How long this stupor lasted I am unable to say; but when I awoke, I was lying on a rough bed, a face dark, haggard, scarred and worn, was bending over me. Disfigured as was that visage, it was pleasant to me, for it was human. I opened my eyes, then closed them languidly, re-opened them, then closed them again. "Now, chile, I thinks you is a leetle better," said the dark-faced woman, whom I recognized as Aunt Polly; but I was too weak, too wandering in mind, to talk, and I closed my eyes and slept again. CHAPTER VI. RESTORED CONSCIOUSNESS--AUNT POLLY'S ACCOUNT OF MY MIRACULOUS RETURN TO LIFE--THE MASTER'S AFFRAY WITH THE OVERSEER. When I awoke (for I was afterwards told by my good nurse that I had slept four days), I was lying on the same rude bed; but a cool, clear sensation overspread my system. I had full and active possession of my mental faculties. I rose and sat upright in the bed, and looked around me. It was the deep hour of night. A little iron lamp was upon the hearth, and, for want of a supply of oil, the wick was burning low, flinging a red glare through the dismal room. Upon a broken stool sat Aunt Polly, her head resting upon her breast, in what nurses call a "stolen nap." Amy and three other children were sleeping in a bed opposite me. In a few moments I was able to recall the whole of the scenes through which I had passed, while consciousness remained; and I raised my eyes to God in gratitude for my partial deliverance from pain and suffering. Very softly I stole from my bed, and, wrapping an old coverlet round my shoulders, opened the door, and looked out upon the clear, star-light night. Of the vague thoughts that passed through my mind I will not now speak, though they were far from pleasant or consolatory. The fresh night air, which began to have a touch of the frost of the advancing autumn, blew cheerily in the room, and it fell with an awakening power upon the brow of Aunt Polly. "Law, chile, is dat you stannin' in de dor? What for you git up out en yer warm bed, and go stand in the night-ar?" "Because I feel so well, and this pleasant air seems to brace my frame, and encourage my mind." "But sure you had better take to your bed again; you hab had a mighty bad time ob it." "How long have I been sick? It all seems to me like a horrible dream, from which I have been suddenly and pleasantly aroused." As I said this, Aunt Polly drew me from the door, and closing it, she bade me go to bed. "No, indeed, I cannot sleep. I feel wide awake, and if I only had some one to talk to me, I could sit up all night." "Well, bress your heart, I'll talk wid you smack, till de rise ob day," she said, in such a kind, good-natured tone, that I was surprised, for I had regarded her only as an ill-natured, miserable beldame. Seating myself on a ricketty stool beside her, I prepared for a long conversation.