"Well, chillen," said Uncle Daniel, "we's kept up dis meeting long
enough. We'd better go home, and not all go one way, cause de patrollers
might git us all inter trouble, an' we must try to slip home by hook or
crook."

"An' when we meet again, Uncle Daniel can finish his story, an' be ready
to go with us," said Robert.

"I wish," said Tom Anderson, "he would go wid us, de wuss kind."




CHAPTER III.


UNCLE DANIEL'S STORY.

The Union had snapped asunder because it lacked the cohesion of justice,
and the Nation was destined to pass through the crucible of disaster and
defeat, till she was ready to clasp hands with the negro and march
abreast with him to freedom and victory.

The Union army was encamping a few miles from C----, in North Carolina.
Robert, being well posted on the condition of affairs, had stealthily
contrived to call a meeting in Uncle Daniel's cabin. Uncle Daniel's wife
had gone to bed as a sick sister, and they held a prayer-meeting by her
bedside. It was a little risky, but as Mr. Thurston did not encourage
the visits of the patrollers, and heartily detested having them prying
into his cabins, there was not much danger of molestation.