He had been two years in the swamps, and considered it his future home.

He had met a negro woman, who was also a runaway, and, after the fashion of his native land, had gone through the process of oiling her, as the marriage ceremony.

They had built a cave on a rising mound in the swamp, and this was their home.

This man's name was Picquilo.

His only weapon was a sword made from a scythe which he had stolen from a neighboring plantation.