Our fellows went in strong for raising a hue and cry, and making the swamp too hot to hold the thief; but the men shook their heads and said they thought that wouldn’t do. They had tried that in the case of Luke Redman, and what had it amounted to?
The best thing we could do would be to keep our eyes open and our mouths closed, and perhaps in a few days something would turn up in our favor.
At ten o’clock the two gentlemen took their leave, and our fellows went up to bed.
“Now, I’ll jest tell you what’s the matter with me,” said Sandy, when he had settled himself snugly between the sheets. "My name hain’t Micawber, and that’s the reason I don’t believe in waitin’ fur things to ‘turn up.’ I’ll tell you what we’ll do, fellers. If the men won’t help us, we’ll help ourselves. We’ll let our dinner go this once, take to the woods at daybreak, and spend Christmas in lookin’ fur that thar hoss, eh?"
Sandy could not have made a proposition that would have suited me better, or the rest of the fellows either, judging by the readiness with which they agreed to it.
The matter was settled without much debate, and then we arranged our pillows, and prepared to go to sleep. We did sleep, but not long. There was more excitement in store for us. About two o’clock our cotton-gin was set on fire.
I need not stop to tell you how frightened I was when my brother dragged me out of bed and shouted in my ear that the plantation was burning up; how I looked out of the window as I pulled on my clothes, and saw the gin wrapped in flames; how our fellows rushed out of the house, and, after bustling about for a while in a state of intense excitement, getting in every body’s way, and accomplishing nothing, stood quietly by my father’s side, and saw twelve thousand dollars’ worth of cotton consumed; how we wondered and made wild guesses as to who the incendiary could be; and finally went back to bed, and lay for a long time talking the matter over. You can imagine all that, and will know just how we felt.
Excited as I was, I fell asleep again, but was awakened about daylight by the sound of horses’ hoofs in the yard. I ran to the window, and saw several mounted men waiting before the door. They were all booted and spurred, and some carried guns slung over their shoulders, while others had revolvers strapped about their waists.