It was easy to see how the large, loose stone, which had prevented the fugitive’s escape, had slipped from its place as he tried to climb over it. “Well, well,” said Mr. Arthur, “you ought to have one good friend in the forest, and I guess you have! I don’t think that poor fellow will ever forget you.” Ralph felt that this was pay enough, even though the friend was only a poor negro, whom he might never see again. And now, leaving the huge game where it had fallen, he accompanied the good planter back to the little village of huts, where Mrs. Arthur and Camilla were awaiting them in some anxiety. CHAPTER XIV. OUR SAILOR BOY DISLIKES MR. OSBORNE. “Oh, how dreadful!” exclaimed Camilla, as she listened to the recital of what had taken place. “I am thinking of his mother,” said Mrs. Arthur, “and I am so thankful--so thankful--that he is safe!” Mr. Osborne took a very practical view of the matter. “You could have kept the negro, I suppose,” he said, “as you had your gun; but then it might not have been very easy to get him anywhere, you being a boy.” “I didn’t wish to _get him anywhere_,” replied Ralph. “I wished him to go where he liked.” “Of course; it wasn’t your business to catch runaway negroes,” said the overseer, “and you did perfectly right. Only I wish I could have been there. Did he seem to be afraid of you?” “No, sir; I laid down my gun.” “Suppose he had taken it up?” “I never thought of such a thing, sir; I was trying to help him, and he knew it.” “I wouldn’t have trusted him,” remarked the overseer. “I did trust him, sir; or, rather, I didn’t think anything about it. I wanted to stop his leg from bleeding.” “Was he in a hurry to be off after you had fixed him up?” “He looked uneasy, as if afraid that somebody else might come before he could get away.” “Perhaps he expected you to take up your gun and order him to march for his old quarters?” “I don’t know how that was,” said Ralph; “but the gun lay all the while where he could have taken it up if he would.” “What did you say to him?” “I told him he was free. And it almost made me cry to see how grateful he appeared for what I had done. I hope he has some good place to stay in.” “No danger,” said the overseer; “he has a good enough place for this climate, and lives on the fat of the land, besides. I think some of my negroes could go straight to him within the next two hours, but they won’t tell.” “And do they never run away, too?” asked Ralph. “Yes; but I have generally got them back. Sometimes they are arrested by the Spanish soldiers, if they venture out of the woods; and sometimes, when they keep in their hiding-places, I track them out myself.” “And do you whip them when you get them back?” “Of course I do; that teaches them better than to risk it again.”