However, neither I nor they were put to the test upon the present occasion. All was quiet as I walked along; and athwart the path, wherever I caught sight of it, poured the calm beams of the declining sun, unchequered by the shadow of a living thing. Several times I was tempted to go back by the thought of Bessy, and the fear that some danger might approach her during my absence; still, I believed it better to make sure that the wood, up to the junction of the two roads, was clear, and I walked on. At length I came to a spot where, through an opening of the trees, I caught a glimpse of what seemed a sandy streak running along before me; and a moment after I heard a voice crying,-- "Hi, hi! haw, John, haw!" I hurried on with a glad heart, in the thought that I might find some farmer driving his team to the town. When I came within sight, however, I perceived it was only a negro carter, sitting on a barrel in front of a heavily-laden cart, and driving a team of oxen by his voice along the high-road to the county town. At first, I was tempted to send a message by him to the sheriff and magistrates; but, remembering the looseness which besets a negro's tongue, I judged he was more likely to tell it to the first person of his own colour whom he met, than to carry it to those for whom it was intended. He did not perceive me as I stood among the bushes, but went on, now urging his slow beasts on their way, now breaking forth into a beautiful negro song, called "The Shocking of the Corn." The easy indifference with which he went,--his apparent unconsciousness of any subject of agitation or alarm, was a great comfort to me. I argued, in the first place, that the high-road was clear of the enemy; and, in the second place, that the insurrection could not have spread very far; for had he been conscious of its existence, instead of sitting there on his barrel, with his chin bent almost down to his knees, he would have been gazing about in every direction with all the excitable curiosity of a negro. Satisfied that Bessy could proceed in safety towards Jerusalem, I turned upon my steps, and made my way slowly back towards the meeting of the paths. Though my mind was certainly much more at ease, yet I took care to cast my eyes round on every side as far as possible, seeking for any indication that could confirm or impair my sense of security. I met with nothing, however, till I came to a very narrow path, if path it could be called, along which a man might make his way on foot, but which seemed scarcely wide enough for any one to pass on horseback; and yet upon the green grass which covered it, I saw the print of several horses' hoofs. They might have been there when I passed before, but I had not remarked them; and this sight was the cause of fresh anxiety to me, as great as the sight of the savage's footprint to Robinson Crusoe on his desert island.