"Had you not better take pistols with you, Cousin Richard? These men are often very violent and lawless."
"No, no," I answered, holding up my riding whip, which had a very heavy iron head, cast in the form of an eagle; "I can give a good account of two or three with this; and I should not like to show that I meditated violence myself." Bending down my head as I spoke, I added, in a whisper,--"Forgive me, Bessy; I did not intend to trouble or annoy you by what I said this morning. I may not be so conceited and self-confident as you think all Englishmen are." She looked up frankly in my face, and, notwithstanding all the people round her, held out her hand to me. I pressed it in mine for a moment, and then galloped away. At the gate leading into the main road, we saw Billy Byles coming up from the right, mounted on a very handsome horse, which showed a little more blood than bone, and Mr. Thornton instantly hallooed him up.
"Come along, Byles," he cried, "come along with us; you are just the sort of man we want. We are going hunting."
"Hunting!" echoed bold Billy; "hunting what, in Heaven's name?"
"A nigger-driver and his master," answered Mr. Thornton. "Lewis, the trader, bought, last night, all Aunt Bab's servants, notwithstanding our caveat against it; and we must catch him ere he gets to the state-line, or we may have trouble."
"Tally ho!" cried Billy Byles. "We'll give him a chase. You ride on. I'll rouse the country as we go, and join you in five minutes. There's Toliver, and Turner, and Sam Hicks, and Whitehead and his son, all close to the road, men always ready for action; and these fellows will show fight, depend upon it. Stop at the cross road just on this side of Jerusalem."
"No, no," said Mr. Thornton; "come to old Snead's hotel. You will find us there before the house. We shall get information there, and a warrant."
"Oh, warrants! Damn warrants!" responded Billy Byles, "I am always my own warrant. But go on; I'll come, and not keep you." On we went accordingly at a rapid pace, minding neither dust nor mud, both of which were to be had on the road, as it undulated up and down; and in about three-quarters of an hour, we had reached the town or village of Jerusalem, as the capital seat of the county of Southampton is called. I fancy it is always an active, bustling little place; but there was evidently an unusual excitement in it at the time; and as we rode up towards the inn, I saw my good friend, Mr. Hubbard, standing by his pony, and another gentleman on horseback, close to him, who, Mr. Thornton informed me, was the sheriff. I have since seen several specimens of the same kind in Virginia; and shall only therefore say, he was a very tall, lanky man, with a good carriage and a line countenance, with tremendously long limbs, and not a superfluous ounce of flesh or fat upon any of them. Could I suppose him to have been once a beast transformed by some beneficent fairy into a man, I should say he must formerly have been a full-blooded Irish stag-hound; and his horse was of the same character, all bone and sinew, but a remarkably fine animal. He was equipped as if for the chase, with a pair of long boots which came up almost to his hips; and he had a little hat stuck upon the top of his grey hair, which a very slight change would have turned into a jockey cap. As soon as he saw us, he dashed very unceremoniously through the little crowd towards us; and we learned from him (after a brief introduction between him and me, from Mr. Thornton) that the warrant against Mr. Lewis was already in the hands of a constable, who was saddling his horse; and that information had been obtained of the course of the trader and his party, they having passed through Jerusalem about an hour and a half before.
"Young Thornton is with him," added the sheriff, addressing my companion, "and you know what sort of a fellow he is; so we are likely to have a fight for it, and had better go prepared."
"Let us start off at once," said Mr. Thornton. "As he has got so far ahead, he may get across the state-line, where your writ won't run." By this time Mr. Hubbard had joined us, and being informed that Billy Byles was raising recruits, advised us to remain till he came up, if he did not tarry too long, and then entered upon some legal question with the sheriff as to the nature, power, and extent of the warrant issued--matters which I did not very clearly comprehend.