My ole Mas'r Lowndes keep all de ages in a big book, and when we come to age ob sense we mark em down ebry year, so I know.

Too ole for come?
Mas'r joking.

Neber too ole for leave de land o' bondage.

I old, but great good for chil'en, gib tousand tank ebry day.

Young people can go through, _force_ [forcibly], mas'r, but de ole folk mus' go slow." Such emotions as these, no doubt, were inspired by our arrival, but we could only hear their hasty utterance in passing; our duty being, with the small force already landed, to take possession of the bluff.
Ascending, with proper precautions, the wooded hill, we soon found ourselves in the deserted camp of a light battery, amid scattered equipments and suggestions of a very unattractive breakfast.