This was a warning to which I was bound to take heed; for the thought of owning a pair of trowsers, was great, indeed.

It was almost a sufficient motive, not only to induce me to scrub off the _mange_ (as pig drovers would call it) but the skin as well.

So I went at it in good earnest, working for the first time in the hope of reward.

I was greatly excited, and could hardly consent to sleep, lest I should be left.

The ties that, ordinarily, bind children to their homes, were all severed, or they never had any existence in my case, at least so far as the home plantation of Col.