I sprang to my feet just in time to see a big shaggy beast emerging from the surrounding darkness. I gave a poke to the fire with my foot, it made some dry leaves burst into a flame, and then Dan and I both shouted at the top of our voices. The bear, who had again scented us out, might in another instant have caught Dan or me in his unfriendly embrace; but he stopped short, and then, turning round, retreated much faster than he had come. We did not fire, as we should probably only have wounded him and have excited him to rage. Soon after this daylight broke. Having eaten the remainder of our provisions, we started off, hoping to reach home in three or four hours. We met with no other adventures by the way. The first person we saw on approaching our home was our father. We told him of our discovery of the apparently dying black, and that the dominie had remained behind to take care of the poor fellow. "Mr Tidey has done as I would have had him, and acted the part of the good Samaritan. We'll send the waggon off at once, to bring him and the negro in," said my father. Though I wanted to go too, our father declared that we looked so much knocked up from our long tramp and sleepless nights, that we must turn in and get some rest, and he said that he would despatch Peter, who knew the country better than we did, for the purpose. CHAPTER THREE. ARRIVAL OF THE WAGGON--WHY DIO RAN AWAY--HOW TO ACT FOR THE BEST-- ABOLITION OF SLAVERY--WHAT BIDDY O'TOOLE MEANT TO DO--KATHLEEN AND DIO-- BIDDY'S INTERVIEW WITH THE STRANGERS--DIO'S PURSUERS--A FORTUNATE ARRIVAL--TEACHING THE BLACK TO READ--GOOD WORDS--AN INTERRUPTED LESSON-- THE ALARM--MAN-HUNTERS--EVERY MAN'S HOUSE HIS CASTLE--WATCHING THE STRANGERS--AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE--MR. MCDERMONT--MY MOTHER'S APPREHENSIONS OF DANGER--OUR GARRISON INCREASED. The first thing I did the next morning on getting up was to hurry out to ascertain if Mr Tidey and the negro had arrived, and was much disappointed to find that the waggon had not come back. Breakfast was over, and still it did not appear. My mother suggested that possibly the black was too weak to be removed. When I told my father of the two men we had fallen in with, in search of a runaway slave, he looked grave, remarking-- "Possibly the fellows on their return may have fallen in with the waggon, and if so, they have carried off it and its occupants." "I don't think Mr Tidey would allow himself to be captured by only two men, or would surrender the black of whom he had taken charge," I remarked. "He is not likely to submit himself to be made prisoner, I grant, unless he should have been wounded, but possibly he may not have felt himself called on to fight for a stranger, should the men in search of the slave be able to prove that he belongs to them or their employer," answered my father. "However, I'll set out to try to ascertain what has happened; saddle Swiftsure, Mike, while I get ready."