The struggle with the obstacles in my way certainly had not calmed me; but many a rapid thought had passed through my mind as I forced my path on, and I paused on the more open ground to try to compose and direct my thoughts. The sun was now hardly an hour above the horizon; his slanting beams passed in long stripes of light between the boughs of the old trees, and gilded the grass beneath them; and as I gazed round, I fancied I perceived that upon one somewhat various and circuitous track, every here and there, was a dark little spot of shadow, as if something had depressed the turf, and left an indentation which interrupted the long lines of light. It was a man's footmark, and eagerly I followed it for near a quarter of a mile. At the end of that distance, I know not what it was made me pause. I have heard of people, who, like some of the inferior animals, have a sense, a strange mysterious impression of the vicinity of some noxious creature--of a snake, a crocodile, a tiger. Such seemed, at that moment, the case with me. I felt as if something loathed and dreaded was near, and slackening my pace, and stepping noiselessly, I advanced through the trees into one of those little open brakes which were frequent in the forest. The moment I did so, my eyes fell upon a tall negro-man lying at the foot of an oak, with a musket by his side. As he lay, his face was turned a little away, and the boughs cast a deep shadow over him; but the sound of my footfall, light as it was, made him snatch up his gun, and start upon his feet in a moment; and, with a strange feeling of satisfaction, I saw Nat Turner, the leader of revolt, before me. His musket and my gun were instantly levelled, and I heard the cock of the musket click; but the next instant, the sun shining full on my face, he recognized me, and exclaimed,-- "Hold hard, Englishman, hold hard! If you fire, you will never know what you want to know." The hope of finding Bessy was all powerful, and as he still held his musket at his shoulder, I exclaimed,-- "Ground your arms, then, and I will ground mine." He obeyed at once, trusting without hesitation to my honour. I dropped the gun from my shoulder, and we stood for a moment or two gazing upon each other, as if waiting to see who would speak the next word. CHAPTER XXIII. "Well," I said at length, "what have you to tell me?" "Sit down there," he said, in a calm and even commanding tone, "and speak low; for there are more ears near than yours and mine. I do not want to take you at a disadvantage. If we have to fight this thing out, let us fight it out together; though still I am better off than you are; for you love life, I hate it. You have hopes, I have none, but to do the work upon which I am sent, how much soever I detest it, and then to quit it for the grave."