On one of their scouting expeditions they stopped at a house whose owner boasted that he had built it himself and lived in it for seventeen years, and though it wasn't equal to some of the fine houses in Springfield or Lebanon, it was as good as he wanted. It was built of logs, like the ordinary frontier dwelling, and consisted of a single room, where the family of six persons lived, ate and slept. It had a door but no window, and in order to have light in the daytime it was necessary to keep the door open, no matter how cold the weather might be. Near the house was a smaller one of the same sort, and this was occupied by three negroes, the slaves of the owner of the place.
Harry found on inquiry that the man had bought these slaves from the money he had saved by selling the produce of his farm, preferring to invest in this kind of property rather than build a more comfortable house, with glass windows and other luxuries. One of the slaves was cook and housemaid, the second was the family nurse, and the third, a man about fifty years old, attended to the stable and out-door work in general. The master worked in the field with his colored property, but he said that when he had “two more niggers” he would have all his time taken up looking after them. Naturally he was in sympathy with the rebellion, and did not believe in the Yankees and Dutch coming along and setting the slaves free.
The black man watched for a chance to speak to one of the boys, and after a little maneuvering he managed to do so without being seen by his master.
“Ef you Linkum folks wants to find some rebs,” said the darkey to Harry, with a grin, “I knows whar you 'll find'em.”
“Where's that?”
“You jest go down dis yere road about a mile and you 'll find some of'em with a wagon load o' pork dey's takin' to Price's army.”
“How many rebs are there with the wagon?”
“Dere's six on'em—t'ree is on horses and t'ree in der wagon. Dey's been gettin' dat pork round yar, and hain't been gone more'n half an hour. I knows dey's going ter stop at der creek to fix one of de wheels, and you 'll find'em dar. Don't let on wher yer found'em out.”
“Of course not,” was the reply. “We 'll keep you all safe. Now clear out, and don't look at us to see which way we go.”
There were six of them in the scouting party, and they were entirely able to cope with the escort of the wagon. Harry slipped to the side of the sergeant in command and said they'd better be off, and he would then tell him why.