Nothing rewarded the effort.

Yet surely along here on this long-settled west bank of the Mississippi I could not be far removed from those of my race, for I knew that all along this river shore were cultivated plantations and little frontier towns irregularly served by passing steamboats.

We had not been far to the northward of St.Louis at midnight, and Thockmorton confidently expected to tie up the _Warrior_ at the wharf before that city early the next morning.

So, surely, somewhere near at hand, concealed amid the gloom, would be discovered the habitations of men--either the pretentious mansion of some prosperous planter, or the humble huts of his black slaves.

Could I attain to either one I would be certain of welcome, for hospitality without questioning was the code of the frontier.
The night air increased in chilliness as the hours approached dawn, and I shivered in my wet clothes, although this only served to arouse me into immediate action.