As he drew near to where the buggy was waiting, he said pleasantly, recognizing the negro driver: "Well, Hercules, out for a drive?"
"Yas, Massa Lomax, I is takin' dis young gemman on a leetle drive, sah," answered Hercules, who had gained his name from his great strength.
"Pardon me, sir, but may I have a word with you?" said Will, politely.
"Certainly, young man," replied the farmer.
"You came down the bay on the steamer last night with me, sir."
"I came down on the steamer, but I do not remember to have seen you, though your face is strangely, so strangely familiar to me," and the farmer gazed fixedly into the face of the boy.
"We have not met, sir; but may I ask if you did not take up to Baltimore a cargo of cattle and sell them there?"
"I did."
"Well, sir, I overheard a plot between two men last night to rob you on your way home this morning. My state-room adjoined theirs, and a knot in the wooden partition had fallen out, or been pushed out, just at my head, and I saw the men and heard their plot.