"Well," I answered, "any one who brings me intelligence to the town of where Miss Bessy is, between this hour and tomorrow morning, shall have a reward of a hundred dollars. I trust, sir, you have no objection," I said, turning to the overseer, "against these good people seeking for the young lady." "None whatever," he replied. "I am quite certain they will all come back; for I don't think any of them has had anything to complain of during his whole life." "Never, sir, till our old missus die," said the tall man; "and never since we came here, I will say. Robert Thornton's time was a different case. The dirty nigger! he ought to have the racket." He then turned to talk with his companions; and so eager were they all with the matter in hand, that they took very little further notice of us, and hardly seemed to perceive our departure. The overseer, it is true, remained with them, wishing us a civil good day, and though I gave all credit to their zeal, I was not sorry they should have some one to direct it aright, who had more extended experience than themselves. "You are an extravagant fellow, Sir Richard," said Billy Byles, as we rode hack towards the town. "Your promise of the hundred dollars won't help the finding of poor Bessy a bit." "I must leave no means or inducement untried," I said, in as calm and tranquil a tone as I could assume. "Miss Davenport, you see, was under my protection. I cannot help blaming myself for having left her at all; and every one will have just cause for censuring me severely if I neglect any means of discovering what has become of her." Billy Byles laughed aloud. "My dear Sir Richard," he said, "I dare say you have got a thousand good reasons for your eagerness; but I divine one little one which you do not mention, and that is just the one which would make me hunt up Louisa Thornton in the same manner, if she were in the same predicament. Come along, here's a place where we can gallop; and though Jordan is a hard road to travel, the sooner we get back to Jerusalem the better." CHAPTER XXXI. I could not help thinking, as we rode along, now through deep woods, now across small pieces of cultivated ground, what a favourable country this would be for a desultory guerilla sort of warfare; and I easily conceived how the Indians, in former days, had maintained their woody fastnesses against all the advantages of European discipline. Indeed, had the insurgents, on the present occasion, but known how to profit by the opportunities the country afforded--had they kept their hands from any indiscriminate massacre, and contented themselves with picking off their assailants from behind the screen which the forest afforded in every direction, they might, and certainly would, have been beaten at last, but they would have been much more successful in the beginning, and maintained the contest for a greater length of time.