"Oh, yes sar," exclaimed the boy, backing off a step or two. "I going answer ebery question you ax me. I was jest out in de gyarden." "What were you doing out there at that time of night?" "Nuffin, sar." "Did you see the robbers come into the house?" "Yes, sar; I done seed 'em come in." "Then what did you do?" "I jest went 'round out dar." "And did you see those other masked men, who came in and rescued us from the power of the robbers?" "Yes, sar, I seed dem too," replied Julius, becoming interested. "And I done tol' 'em to come in quick." "Did you know they were out there in the garden?" "Yes, sar; I knowed it." "Who told you they were there?" "Nobody." "Julius," said Marcy sternly, "I am going to know all about this. I shall give you no peace until you answer every one of my questions, and I shall begin by putting a grubbing-hoe into your hands at daylight in the morning. Have you any more money in your pockets?" "No, sar; I gib you de lastest I got." "Then hurry off to bed and be ready to go to work when I call you." "Well, sar, Marse Marcy," said the boy, plunging his hands into his pockets and swinging himself about the room as if he was in no particular hurry to go to bed, "if you wuk Julius till he plum dead you can't make him tell what he don't know." At this juncture a new actor appeared upon the scene. It was old Morris, who had been in the hall for the last five minutes, waiting as patiently as he could for Julius to give him an opportunity to speak to Marcy and his mother in private. His patience was pretty well exhausted by this time, and when he saw that Julius had no intention of going away until he got ready, the coachman stepped into the room. "See here, niggah," he began, and that was enough. Julius knew the old man, and when the latter pointed to the door he lost no time in going out of it. Morris followed him to the end of the hall and closed and locked that door behind him, and then came back to the sitting-room. He was badly frightened, and so excited that he hardly knew what he was doing, but he was laughing all over. "How is you, missus?" said he, as he shut the door and backed up against it. "Morris," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, "do you know who the robbers were?" "No, missus, I don't; but I does know that they don't 'long around in dis part of the country. That Cap'n Beardsley, he brung 'em up from Newbern." "Do you know what you are saying?" demanded Marcy. "Who told you that improbable story?"