Since we knew not how we might be taxed if we should succeed in reaching the house, and a march of twenty-five miles in the heat of the day would greatly impair our energies, we decided to set off at once (this being Thursday), and spend the night in the forest at a spot not far distant from the road. The negroes by themselves would never have consented to this plan, so great was their dread of bugaboos, but they derived courage from the companionship of white men, and, to stiffen their resolution, I told them how, when wearing the crown piece about my neck, I had escaped by night with nine companions from a place with stone walls ten feet thick. This impressed them greatly--Noah in particular; and in the evening, when we halted for our bivouac in the forest, he came to me holding the string on which the coin was suspended, and put it into my hand, saying: "Dis white man's duppy. Massa hab it dis time; Massa got through stone wall, get through anything. Den I hab it again when Massa done wid it." I smiled and was hesitating whether to sling it round my neck or to give it back when Cludde asked me what was the meaning of this strange talk. As I did not answer at once, Uncle Moses broke in. "Massa gib dat silver so dat you not be burned, sah. Noah will hab eber so much more bimeby, 'nuff to buy him free, sah." Cludde looked at me inquiringly. "'Tis true, Cludde," I said. "I had to buy you off." "But I don't understand," he said. "A crown piece?" "Oh!" said I, feeling a little uneasy lest he should probe this matter of the crown piece too far, "the negro has the mind of a child. The price of his freedom is five hundred dollars: he wouldn't take my word for that sum, but the sight of a coin was enough." "But you told me the buccaneers stripped you of your money," he said, with a look of puzzlement. "So they did, but I happened to have this crown piece slung about my neck under my shirt, and it escaped their attention." "Egad, I should never have believed you were superstitious," he said with a laugh, and I laughed back, glad enough that I had escaped further interrogation. I returned the coin to Noah, assuring him that I had no further need of it, and he went away well pleased, assured of the protection of the white man's duppy--the token of the good spirits which he venerates as much as he fears the bugaboos. I was not to get off after all. When we lay side by side on the grass, Cludde was for a long time silent; then he said abruptly, with a keen look at me: "Bold, do you remember I flung a crown piece at you when I passed you on the Worcester road years ago!" "I believe you did," said I, prevaricating. "Is that the coin?" "Why, Cludde," says I, "there are thousands of crown pieces in the world." "Is it?" he persisted. "Why should you suppose it is?" I said. "Why did you keep it? Come, I must know." "Oh, confound you, Cludde," I said, "why don't you let me go to sleep?"