Page:Fifty Years in Chains, or the Life of an American Slave.djvu/315

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tudes of the forest, from the glance of every human eye. As it was growing late, and I believed I must now be near the settlements, I determined to encamp for the night, beside this old beaver dam. I again -took my supper from my bag of meal, and made my bed for the night amongst the canes that grew in the place. This night I slept but little; for it seemed as if all the owls in the country had assembled in my neighborhood to perform a grand musical concert. — Their hooting and chattering commenced soon after dark, and continued until the dawn of day. In all parts of the southern country, the owls are very numerous, especially along the margins of streams, and in 'he low grounds with which the waters are universally bordered; but since I had been in the country, although I had passed many nights in the woods at all seasons of the year, I had never before heard so clamorous and deafening a chorus of nocturnal music. — With the coming of the morning I arose from my couch, and proceeded warily along the woods, keeping a continual lookout for plantations, and listening attentively to every noise that I heard in the trees, or amongst the canebrakes. When the sun had been up two or three hours, I saw an appearance of blue sky at distance through the trees, which proved that the forest had been removed from a spot somewhere before me, and at no great distance from me; and, as I cau-