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blocks. He went out and examined them, and found
them to be the flock of an old Baptist, who lived about
six miles up the road from his house; they had been
gone from their owner for three months, and he could
hear nothing of them. The old Baptist had accused
my friend of having his sheep driven off to market, and
abused him very much for stealing them. My friend
acquainted me with all the circumstances, and I conclu-
ded to play a trick on the old jockey for his suspicions;
so we gathered up all the flock, and drove them on be-
fore us, and got to the old Baptist's just after dark: we
called the old man out to the gate, and wanted to lodge
with him all night; but he refused to take us in, and
urged as a reason that his old woman was sick, and
could not accommodate us as he would wish. In an-
swer to these objections, I told him that we could wait
on ourselves; that I had three active young men with
me, who could do all that was wanting to be done. I
told him I had moved down below in the spring of the
year, when my sheep were scattered, and I concluded
to leave them until fall; and that I had been up
old place after them, and was going home; and com-
plained of the hard drive I had made that day, as an
excuse to stop with the old Baptist. I then told him I
had a very fine wether that I wished to kill, as he was
very unruly, and hard to drive, and what we did not
use that night he was welcome to. The old man
showed us a place to pen our sheep, and the corn-crib,
and stables; and told us that, if we could wait on our-
selves, we were welcome to stay. We soon fed our
horses, and had the mutton dressed, and a large pot-
ful cooking. The old man told us where to find meal,

to my

1

milk, and butter; and while my associates were cooking the sheep, I was conversing with the old Baptist on religion; I told him I was a Baptist preacher. When news came that the sheep was done, I went into the kitchen, and we had a real feast of mutton, at the expense of the old Baptist.

"After supper we went in where the old lady lay sick. The old man got his Bible and hymnbook, and invited me to go to duty. I used the books, and then prayed like hell for the recovery of the old lady. The next morning we were up before daylight, and had the sheep all on the road. We drove them about a mile, and scattered them in the woods, and left them. We left the head of the wether that we killed lying in the lot, where the old man could see that it was his own mark. I arrived home after a trip of six months.

"I have been going ever since from one place to another, directing and managing; but I have others now as good as myself to manage. This fellow, Phelps, that I was telling you of before, he is a noble chap among the negroes, and he wants them all free;

he knows how to excite them as well as any person; but he will not do for a robber, as he cannot kill a man unless he has received an injury from him first. He is now in jail at Vicksburg, and I fear will hang. I went to see him not long since, but he is so strictly watched that nothing can be done. He has been in the habit of stopping men on the highway, and robbing them, and letting them go on; but that will never do for a robber: after I rob a man he will never give evidence against me, and there is but one safe plan in

the business, and that is to kill-if I could not afford to kill a man I would not rob. I have often told Phelps that he would be caught before he knew it. I could raise men enough to go and tear down the jail, and take Phelps by force; but that would endanger all our other plans. I have frequently had money enough to settle myself in wealth; but I have spent it as freely as water in carrying on my designs. The last five years of my life have been passed in the same way that I have been telling you, Hues; I have been from home the best part of the time, and have let but few chances escape me when I could rob that I did not do it. It would take a week yet, Hues, to tell over all my scrapes of that kind. You must come and stay at my house the week before I start with those negroes to Erwin, and I will have time to tell over all my ups and downs for the last five years. I want you to go that trip with me. You can arrange your business in the nation in two weeks, and get to my house in Madison county. You will make more that trip than all your concerns are worth in the nation, so you had better give away what you have there than be confined to it."

The approach of night now warned Murrell and his companion to look out for a house of entertainment, and Murrell ended his narrative.

CHAPTER VIII.

MURRELL and his companion, at an early hour of the following morning (February 5th), were on the road and pursuing their journey. The time was drawing near when business of an important character, as Murrell had been assured by Hues, would make it necessary for them to separate. But the short distance of two miles lay between them and the point (Wesley) that was to divide them. Murrell expressed himself averse to the separation, and urged many reasons for continuing their journey longer together. Hues, however, inexorable, still pressed the plea of business; and Murrell, finding his solicitations unavailing, yielded on condition that Hues would hasten his business in the Choctaw Nation, and rejoin him at his house in Madison county; promising himself, meanwhile, to proceed immediately homeward, and have in readiness the negroes promised Mr. Erwin by the time Hues should visit him. Upon this, the following (which is the last) dialogue between Murrell and Hues ensued :

Murrell. "Well, Hues, we part to-day, and I am not half done talking; but I will quit telling what I have done, and tell what I am going to do. I have about forty negroes now engaged that are waiting for me to run them; and, the best of it is, they are almost all the property of my enemies. I have a great many friends who have got in to be overseers: they are a

strong support to my plans. I have a friend by the name of Nolin, my brother-in-law's brother, who is overseeing in Alabama for a man who is from home. Nolin has decoyed six likely negro men for me. I am to go within about ten miles with a two-horse carryall, and stop at an appointed place. Nolin is to raise a sham charge against the negroes, and they are to run off and come to my wagon. I will put them into the wagon, and fasten down the curtains all round, and then throw fodder over them, and have a striker to drive them to the Mississippi swamp for me, where there will be no danger. I will ride a few miles behind, but never seem to notice the wagon. Nolin is to be driving the woods for the negroes, and reporting that he has seen them every day or two, until I have time to get clear out of the country with them. I have eight more engaged in Alabama, at one Eason's, the fellow whom I was speaking of before. The remainder of the forty I shall get in my own county. You recollect the boat I showed you in the bayou, on the other side of the river? that boat I intend to fill with negroes for my own benefit."

Hues. "There is a fellow by the name of Bundels, or Buns, or some such name, a negro-trader, who lives somewhere in the new part of Tennessee, who, I think, is as hard to cheat as any man I have seen in all my travels; and, if all the Tennesseans are as sharp as I think he is, I do not want to deal with many of them."

M. "O! I know who you are thinking of; his name is Byrn; he does pass down through your country sometimes, and a great sharper he is; he can cheat

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