"You must take good care of him. Give him something to eat when he is hungry, but don't let him escape." "Yah, massa!" "He will ask you questions, but you must be careful what you tell him. Remember, he is not one of us, and he mustn't learn too much." "Yah, massa! I understand. What's his name?" "Dean." "Dat's a funny name. I never heard the like." "Yes, you have. Dan's like it." "So it am, massa! Dat's a fac'." "Now, youngster, I am going to leave you in the company of Pompey here, who will do his best to make you comfortable and happy." "When are you coming back for me?" asked Dean, apprehensively. "Well, that depends upon circumstances. You'd better not trouble yourself about that. Perhaps in a week, perhaps in a month. In the meantime you will have free board, and won't have to work for a living. There are a good many who would like to change places with you." "If you meet any such, send them along," said Dean, with a jocoseness that thinly veiled a feeling bordering upon despair. "Ha, ha! That's a good one. Dan, our young friend is becoming a practical joker. That's right, young one. Keep up good courage. I must bid you good-bye now. Come along, Dan." The two turned away, and Dean with despairing eyes saw them going back to freedom and the light of day, while he was left in the company of an ignorant black in a subterranean dungeon. "Law, honey, don't take on!" said Pompey, good-naturedly. "There ain't no harm comin' to you." "I should think harm had come to me. Here am I shut up in this black hole!" "'Taint so bad, honey, when you're used to it. I didn't like it first myself." "How long have you lived down here?" "I can't justly say." "Is it a year, or a month?" "I can't say, young massa," answered Pompey, who was evidently bent on carrying out Kirby's admonitions not to tell too much to his young guest. "When did you come hyah?" asked Pompey, thinking it only fair that he should ask a question. "Into this neighborhood? I only came yesterday." "And where did you meet Massa Kirby?" "At the cabin of the other man—Dan. But I had seen him before. I met him first at the East, in New York State." "In York State!" repeated Pompey. "Yes. We traveled together for a while." Pompey nodded his head slowly, but evidently he had no very clear idea of what it all meant. "Are you hungry, young massa?" he asked, after a pause. "No; I have had my breakfast." "I must go to work," said the negro, turning to go back by the narrow passage from which he had emerged. "May I go with you?" "Yes, young massa, if you want to."