I made some inquiry about the amount of money left by Edmonds, and discovered that after paying all the expenses of his funeral, the amount of nine hundred dollars would be left, which, according to his request just before his death, was to be sent to his friends in Savanna, Georgia.

Not long after I got back to the Point, when walking out alone, the dumb negro joined me, and motioned me to follow him:  I did so, without hesitation.  We had not gone far out of the way, before he placed himself near me, and, to my surprise, spoke to me as plainly and distinctly as any one could.  He said he knew he would surprise me when he talked like other folks; but he would give me a good reason for having seemed to be dumb.  He then gave me a sketch of his chequered career.  He was once a slave, but had been a free man between thirty and forty years.  At the age of twenty, he was purchased from his master, at Petersburg, Virginia, to save his life, by a band of outlaws of which he became a member, in a servile capacity.  These men had freed him, soon after they purchased him from his master, and in consideration he had taken the oath as one of their gang, and had sworn, with other things, to appear to be deaf and dumb, so long as he should live—­the penalty for any forgetfulness, or otherwise, that should betray that he could either speak or hear, being death!  That he had been educated to this end; that the band had men who could converse with him readily by signs, and that he had been so much accustomed to communicate his thoughts in that manner, that it had become second nature.  He told me he was now determined to go to Canada, where he proposed remaining for the balance of his life.  I asked him how he meant to go?  His reply was, that he should make the journey by land; that he knew every foot of the route, and had hundreds of warm friends all the way along.  He further said that he could communicate to me a secret, which he thought it would be better for me to keep—­and this is the first time I have ever publicly revealed it.

The secret was, that he and Scoggins, after leaving Edmonds and myself, had retraced their steps to the skirts of Texas; that my horses had not been taken, as I supposed, by the Indians, but that hired tools of Edmonds and Scoggins had stolen them.  That it was well for me I laid my money out in horses:  had I not done so, they would have murdered me, to possess themselves of it.  He further assured me, that I had been for three months in the most heartless and desperate region which the country affords, and among my worst enemies.  The negro added, that he had heard hard letters read concerning me since I was in the country.  That they were written a year before, by certain men belonging to the same band, whom I knew, but least suspected.  One of them lived near Lawrenceburgh, Indiana; another was Goodrich, the notorious villain to whom I have alluded in the preceding part of the work.