With Axe and Rifle | Page 8

as we approached my uncle's farm. We met
with no one who could give us any information. Since the fearful
danger we had been in, she had become much more nervous than was
her wont, and consequently could not help expecting to hear the worst.
Great was her joy, therefore, when, on driving up to the door, who
should we see but Uncle Denis himself seated in the porch, smoking a
cigar.
"I'm glad to see you, sister," he said, "but Doctor O'Dowd had no
business to frighten you. He is always so accustomed to kill his patients
that he fancies they are all going to die under his hand, and faith, it's no
fault of his if they get well."
My uncle's appearance, however, showed that he had gone through a
severe illness. He was still too weak to walk without assistance, but his
indomitable spirit, my father observed, had done much to keep him up;
our coming also was of great assistance, as my mother was able to
nurse him more carefully than were his usual black attendants. We
remained with him for several days, at the end of which time he was
able to mount his horse and take a gallop with my father in the early

morning. Uncle Denis was one of the kindest-hearted men I ever met,
and generally one of the merriest; but a shade of melancholy came over
him occasionally. It was when he thought of Uncle Michael, or of that
"dear fellow, Mike," as he used to say. He believed himself to have
been in the wrong, and to have been the cause of his brother's leaving
him, without taking an opportunity of acknowledging that such was the
case, and asking for his forgiveness.
My father and mother of course described to Uncle Denis the narrow
escape we had had in crossing the river, and the somewhat doubtful
style of hospitality with which we had been received by Mr Bracher.
"He knows you, Denis," said my father.
"And I know him," answered my uncle; "a more surly curmudgeon
does not exist in these parts, or a harder master to his slaves. He is a
man people wish to stand well with, not because they love him, but
because they fear his vengeance should they offend him. I make a point
of keeping out of his way, for fear that he should pick a quarrel with me,
though he pretends to be friendly enough when we meet. The slaves
hate him, as well they may, but the lash keeps them in order, and he has
a set of fellows about him of his own kidney, who serve him because
no one else would willingly employ them."
This no very flattering account of our late host made my father
determine not to pay him another visit, if he could help it, on our
return.
"I'll follow your example and keep out of his way," observed my father,
"though I should have been glad to make another attempt to purchase
his slave Dio, for the sake of getting the brave fellow out of his power."
"The more desirous you appear to obtain the slave the less likely will
he be to part with him, so I would advise you not to allude again to the
subject," said my uncle. "I'll keep an eye on his proceedings, and,
should he at any time suffer losses and be obliged to sell up, I'll take
means to buy Dio, not letting his master know that you want to become
his owner."

With this arrangement my father was obliged to rest satisfied, as he saw
that there was no other chance of getting Dio out of the power of his
tyrannical master.
A few days after this conversation Uncle Denis was so far recovered,
that my father announced his intention of returning home.
"Stay a few days longer; don't think of going yet," answered Uncle
Denis; "it seems but yesterday that you came, and I shall feel more
lonely than ever when you are gone; besides, you haven't seen the great
wonder of our part of the country, nor have I forsooth, and I should like
to pay it a visit with you."
"Of what wonder do you speak?" asked my father.
"Sure, of the big caves we have deep down in the earth, a few miles
only from this. It is said there are mountains, rivers and lakes within
them, and I don't know what besides."
"Oceans, forests, and valleys, perhaps," said my father, laughing, and
scarcely crediting the account my uncle gave him; for at that time the
wonderful Mammoth Caves of Kentucky were unknown to the world in
general, although the native Indians might have been acquainted with
them, and some time before, a mine of saltpetre at