Not far from the scene of the last occurrence lived Uncle Jack B----, a character in the neighborhood prior to Sherman's raid and reconstruction, but who, since those events, in view of a somewhat disproportioned record, had been singing exceedingly small. In _ante bellum_ times, this old gentleman had been looked up to, by both whites and blacks of his vicinity, as in some sense the reigning monarch of the locality, and one between whose smiles and frowns lay considerations that might engage the attention of much weightier personages than any whom the countryside supported. In brief, Uncle Jack had been the proud proprietor of the largest and best known pack of "nigger dogs" in the "Goober State," with all that that implied in the language of the reconstructionists; and if he did not still possess that distinction, it was altogether attributable to the circumstance that the office which it involved had ceased to be a sinecure, and the property in question was no longer quoted among commercial values. But though the old man and his beasts bowed their heads under the in _terrorem_ of the new order of things, they well knew that this _dies irae_ could not last always, and were, moreover, fully persuaded of the truth of the old proverb which insures to every well-behaved canine a "dish" in passing events. That they were not sophists in this matter will be sufficiently demonstrated by the remaining events of this chapter. At precisely twelve o'clock on the night succeeding that which witnessed the tragical event last narrated above, Uncle Jack held a long conference, at the outer gate of his premises, with three mounted men, and shortly thereafter might have been observed to visit his stable and dog-kennel, lingering for some time in the vicinity of each. A half-hour or more was consumed by the details of a preparation from which it was plain to be seen some mystery was in course of evolution, and the old man, mounted on his now full-rigged hunter, and swept forward in a tempest of dolorous howlings, turned an angle of the close, and joined his weird visitors.