Arter while one ob de men says, 'He ain't yere,--he'd shown hisself before dis, if he was,' an' I spose I would, for I was pretty nearly choked, only I said to myself when I went in, 'I'll go to de bottom before I'll come up to be tuck,' so I jest held on by my toes an' waited.
"I didn't dare to cum out when dey rode away to try a new scent, an' when I did I jest skulked round de edge ob de pond, ready to take to it agen if I yearde dem, an' when night cum I started off an' run an' walked agen hard's I could, an' den at day-dawn I tuck to anoder pond, an' went on a log dat was stickin' in de water, and broke down some rushes an' bushes enuf to lie down on an' cover me up, an' den I slept all day, for I was drefful tired an' most starved too.

Next evenin' when it got dark, I went on agen, an' trabblin through de woods I seed a little light, an' sartin dis time dat it was a darkey's cabin, I made for it, an' it was.

It was his'n,"-- pointing to the big fellow who stood beside him, and who nodded his head in assent.
"I had a palaver before he'd let me in, but when I was in I seed what de matter was.

He had a sojer dere, a Linkum sojer, bad wounded, what he'd found in de woods,--he was a runaway hisself, ye see, like me,--an' he'd tuck him to dis ole cabin an'd been nussin him on for good while.

When I seed dat I felt drefful bad, for I knowed dey was a huntin for me yet, an' I tought if de dogs got on de trail dey'd get to dis cabin, sure: an' den dey'd both be tuck.