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Show LH HICJIABD JIUilDTS. once untcnch the sweeter lessons of his unsopltisticntcd humanity. Let not the reader chide me as 1avislt in my culo~-y: before ltc do('s HO, let me pray him to suppose it written upon his tombstone. \\•c soon n·ntltcd the flat, and were on our way across tltc river in a few minutes afrcr. 'l'ltc liHlc man in the black cont had, in truth, as my companion had predicted, a litt le pug-puppy nose, Lut in his other guesses he was quite out. ' \'c soon discovered that he w:J.s no scrmoni:t.cr-tltcrc was anything but hypocrisy in his clwracter. On the contrary, he swore like a. troo1>cr wlwncvcr occasion oO'crcd; and I was }Jcartily rcjoicctl, for the decency of the thing, if for no other reason, to discover, ~• s I soon did, that the fellow was about to take another road from ourselves. 'I' he otl1er men, three in number, were farmers in the neighborhood, who had been in to supply tl1e •ruscaloosn. market. Like the people of all countr ies who l i\'0 in remote interior situations, ancl sec few strangers who can teach them anyth ing, these people had each a h undred questions to ask, and as many remarks to make u11on the answers. 'l'hey were a hearty, frank, plain-spoken, unequivocal set, who would sbarc with you their hoc-cake and bacon, or take a fl ing or dash of fisticuffs with you, acconl ing to the several positions, us friend or foe, which you might think 11roper to take. .Among all the people of tllis soil, good humor is almost t1JC only rule wl1ich -..vi ii enable the stnmger to get along safely. \Ye were soon over the river, which is broad and not so rnpid at this spot as at many others. T ho Tuscaloosa or Black "\Van·ior river is a bnmch of the Tombeckbe. 'l'l1c site of the town which bears its name, nnd which is now the capital town of AJabama, was that of tl1e Black \V arrior's best village. There is no remnant, no vestige, no miseraLlc cabin, to testify t o what he and his people were. T he memorials of this tribe, like that of all the American h·iLcs, arc few, and yet the poverty of the relics but speak tl1e more emphatically for the mournfulness of their fate. "Yho will succcccl to tl1eir successors, and what better memor ia ls wil1 they IeaYe to the future 1 I t is the boast of civilization only that it can builtl its monument-leave its memorial; and yet Cl10ops, could he now look upon his mausoleum, migJ1t be seen to smile over the boast.. E nough of this. AMONG P l'l'S J\ND 'l'IC\PFALLS. 135 1 f m our companions of the boat, \Y c hatl no sooner sepnratC{ rof 1 ls than I reminded 1 . t tl shelter o lle wool ' < nml got fairy m o Je f ·earms which I proposed to \Villiam of the insp.ectio·n• o~ ourf ~~: <lantl'tord. \Yo rode aside, make aftC'r the cautlOn.at) hmt o 1 .~ l y to the right, n.nd C0\'- 1. 1 • . to a tluck copse t 1·1 a 1 t accor< wg y, tn .< . w out our weapons. 'l'o t le ut Cl' crcd a. group of llllls, and dt? . 1 to my own exaS})cration, n.stonishment of my con~pt~n JOl~ , ~;l{ )ans of our pistols, but the we found, not only no pnmmg m ~c ~~r•rimetl with gunpowder, flinL'i knocked out, and wood~rtone ' la we susllcct of this but substituted in. their place! 10m colu b . ! 'l'he discovery • • 1s of the c tam er . om two shufllmg. c:mp~~~:\vcre in a bad neighborhood, and Jt wns full of wan~:~·) om wits about us. \Y c were neither of us behooved us to. I. . .. t b the prospect of danger; men to be tcrrdied mto macllvl Y. _Y we )roceeded to prepare and, though aroused and apprehe~1S~\ c~lnealen us and we knew against the events which secmle .o had other flints, and other l · 1 1 and .C"'ortunate y, "c < . not on w nc l 1• • f l . eadiness for instant reqm-weapons, and we put all o lt 1Cm m ~~Jl{l remounted, when we . . \V e had scarcely (one so, < . Sltlon. . .·<r down the main track toward the n~er. hem·d a hotscm~n n c mg l the tr::weller might be, but, takulg \ Ve di{l not loo to s~e ': :~n the l~ft-lJand trail of a fork, which om own course, cutCl<'d I . 1 b · g road by which we took us out of the main, i;ltot~til~~l~go~ ~~~~~ G ra<ft~n in the rear, 1noposccl to reach tho P an < • little distance 'lvoidin(Y' the front or main road, as Jt was some . . ionrror. c To our own SUt]lrise, we reache~ the desn·e(: place m af:ty and without the smallest interruptiOn of any kmd. l "'! ~t s •. min<ds hacl been wrought up and excited to.the :cry ~~~ l~~~ pitch of expectntion, and I felt that so,metlung hke dls·~r ointment was predominant in my bosom, for the very secu~·t y ~·c then enjoyed. A scuflle hml been a relief to that anxlCty which was not diminished very greatly by tho knowledg~ ~hat, for n. brief season, we were free from danger. 'fh·e· tna 'we believed, was yet to come ; aml the suspense of wattJ~lg wa.s a greater source of annoyance than any. doubts or a l)Pi ellensJOH wh ich we might ]utve had of the final Issue. |
