"It was foolish to make any talk about what we would do toward findin' Darius, while we were in the smoke-house, because we might have argued till mornin' without comin' to any conclusion; but now that we've started out I'd like to know how we're goin' to work?" I could make no satisfactory reply to this question, and plainly told him so. We had nothing to guide us on the search. The old man had given us no idea of where he might go, and all we knew was that he disappeared beyond the burning tavern. "He wouldn't have followed the Britishers," I said after a long pause, "therefore it seems foolish to look for him at the other end of the city. If we only knew what he went after!" "I reckon the first thing in his mind was to get food, and he might have thought that could be done where the shops were bein' robbed." "And then would come to his mind the question as to how we might get down the river while father is unable to walk," I added, believing that by thus trying to make out what Darius was most likely to do we could hit upon a plan for the search. "The only way we'd be able to leave this city by water, if we wanted to get home, would be on the Potomac river, an' he'd need a stout canoe for such a voyage." We were not coming to any understanding by this line of thought, therefore I harked back to the belief that he might have followed the Britishers to the upper end of the city, and proposed, knowing of no better course, to walk in that direction. The day was beginning to dawn. No soldiers were to be seen on the streets, and I began to believe that the invaders, wearied with their work of destruction, had returned to the encampment near the burying-ground. We came upon the ruins of the President's mansion; the fire had eaten out the interior of the building, but the walls were yet standing, and near about, apparently having neither purpose nor business there, were an hundred people or more, all gazing at the evidences of the most approved method of making war by the British standard. We mingled with these idlers to make certain Darius was not among them, and then went toward the other ruins on a like errand, but with no success. It was sunrise, perhaps a little later, when we stood near the ruins of the barracks, where a number of negroes were digging amid the glowing embers with the hope of finding weapons which might be restored to a condition of usefulness after being subjected to such great heat. One of these searchers for useless treasure straightened up as we approached, and I saw that he was an old man, who looked as if he might have been a gentleman's servant. "Do you live here in Washington, uncle?" I asked, and the old darkey replied: "I'se ain't noways conditioned fur to answer dat question, sah, kase I dunno whar massa am ter be foun' dese yere queer days wha' we'se habin'." "Who is your master?"