"Oh, they have gone to Jerusalem, of course," cried Billy Byles. "It was some of Halliday's party, depend upon it. Very likely they split into two; but they have all taken to Jerusalem, you may be sure of it. You see, in the crowd and confusion last night, no one could find anything, and the search for Bessy was like looking for a needle in a pottle of hay.
"Ole woman thinks they took t'other way," said Zed; "but you see, massa, her cabin just stand at de corner, where you can see no way at all; for they could turn either right or left when they got a hundred yards farther; and she only judge by the sound of the horses' feet."
"Oh, they've gone to Jerusalem," said Billy Byles. And turning to Zed, he added, "She was quite sure they were white men?"
"Oh, she swore by gorry dey was white men," answered Zed. "No doubt of dat."
"Then she is safe, at all events," answered Billy Byles; "and we had better make the best of our way on to town and seek for her. So that she hasn't fallen into the hands of these devils, we have no occasion to be afraid." Zed's intelligence certainly was a great relief to my mind; yet I was not entirely at my ease; for there were various points which seemed strange to me, and I could not feel satisfied till they were accounted for. Nevertheless, Billy Byles's plan seemed the only feasible one for the moment. Therefore, telling Zed to follow as fast as he could, I rode towards Jerusalem. We found the town somewhat more orderly and quiet than it had been on the preceding day, although it appeared that several parties of military had arrived during the night and that morning, and two pieces of artillery were planted in the square. Provisions had arrived likewise; and breakfast was going on with great zeal in the inn and the different houses which had given shelter to the fugitives. In the inn we found Mr. Thornton and all his family; but his first question showed me that he himself had obtained no satisfactory information.
"What news do you bring?" he said. "Do aunt Bab's people know anything of our poor girl?"
"Nothing whatever," I replied; "but we have since got some important intelligence." And I told him all we had heard from Zed.
"That is satisfactory, at all events," he said, with a brighter look. "We shall hear more soon, and most likely see her come trotting in in the course of the day. I dare say she has gone to some plantation where the people are on their guard, and feel secure. At all events, she is safe, and our worst fears are allayed." He then went on to inform me that he had spoken with the young ladies whom Colonel Halliday had brought in, and found that Bessy had certainly never been with them. He had brought them, however, Mr. Thornton said, from a house quite close to the high-road after having made a tour with his party through the woods in search of the insurgents. He had returned on his search, immediately after having lodged them in safety, and he might have met with Bessy either before or afterwards.
"The only strange thing is," continued Mr. Thornton, "that Halliday himself has never returned; but I trust he will appear very soon." Mrs. Thornton, who always was rather of a despondent disposition, here expressed a hope--which, with her, generally meant a dread of an exactly opposite event--that Colonel Halliday had not met with a superior party of the negroes, and been defeated. A friend of mine, who was somewhat of a susceptible and apprehensive character himself, but who took especial care never to express any gloomy forebodings, used to declare that he always eschewed, the society of what he called dread-ful people; "for when I am in a fright about anything myself," he said, "they are sure to drive me half mad with all sorts of possibilities." Now, though I do not intend to apply the term dread-ful to my excellent friend, Mrs. Thornton, yet I did wish she had spared me this suggestion. I had argued myself into believing that there was no doubt of Bessy's safety, although, of course, I could not be altogether easy till I saw her again; and though the phantom which Mrs. Thornton conjured up was not very tangible, it made me uncomfortable. If it was not probable, it was within the range of possibility; and upon it my mind rested with very unpleasant sensations.
"Pooh! nonsense, mamma!" said Louisa Thornton. "Mr. Halliday had too many men with him for anything like that. Did you not hear how they were all scattered and dispersed at Doctor Blunt's? In the meantime, Sir Richard is getting no breakfast and must be half starving."