The man whose hat was taken was drunk; and the next morning when he came to look for his hat it was gone and Jack's old hat lying in the place of it; and in looking round he saw the tracks of two persons in the dust, who had passed during the night, and one of them having but three toes on one foot.

He followed these tracks until they came to a large mud pond in a lane on one side of which a person might pass dry shod; but the man with three toes on one foot had plunged through the mud.

This led the man to think there must be runaway slaves, and from out of that neighborhood; for all persons in that settlement knew which side of that mud hole to go.

He then got others to go with him, and they followed us until our track left the road.

They supposed that we had gone off in the woods to lay by until night, after which we should pursue our course.
After we were captured they took us off several miles to where one of them lived, and kept us over night.