"Who is that, at this time of night?" inquired the woman, in a low voice.
"It's only me. I'm lost, and can't find my way to our vessel," said Tommy, in a half-crying tone.
"Mother," said the woman, shutting the window, "it's only a little sailor-boy, a stranger, and he's wet through."
She immediately unbarred and opened the door, and invited him to come in. Stepping beyond the threshold, she closed the door against the storm, and placing a chair at the fire, told him to sit down and warm himself. They were mulatto half-breeds, retaining all the Indian features which that remnant of the tribe now in Charleston are distinguished by a family well known in the city, yet under the strictest surveillance of the police. Every thing around the little room denoted poverty and neatness. The withered remnant of an aged Indian mother lay stretched upon a bed of sickness, and the daughter, about nineteen years old, had been watching over her, and administering those comforts, which her condition required. "Why, mother, it's a'most twelve o'clock. I don't believe he'll come to-night."
She awaited her friend, or rather he whose mistress she had condescended to be, after passing from several lords. The history of this female remnant of beautiful Indian girls now left in Charleston, is a mournful one. The recollection of their noble sires, when contrasted with their present unhappy associations, affords a sad subject for reflection and "this little boy can stop till morning in our room up-stairs," said she, looking up at an old Connecticut clock that adorned the mantel-piece.
"Oh! I could not stay all night. The mate would be uneasy about me, and might send the crew to look for me. I'm just as thankful, but I couldn't stop," said Tommy.
"But you never can find the bay on such a night as this; and I've no pass, or I would show you into Broad street, and then you could find the way. I am afraid of the guardmen, and if they caught me and took me to the station, my friend would abuse me awfully," said Angeline, for such was her name; and she laid her hand upon his arm to feel his wet clothes.
He now arose from the chair, and putting on his hat, she followed him to the door and directed him how to proceed to find Broad street.