If we set out to investigate all the imaginings that came into the niggers' heads we should have our hands full, was his reply.

I dropped the matter for the time being, but I was none the less convinced that Mose and the ghost were near relations; and I determined to keep an eye on him in the future, at least in so far as one could keep an eye on so slippery an individual.
In pursuance of this design, I took the opportunity that first morning, while Rad and his father were engaged with the veterinary surgeon who had come to doctor a sick colt, of strolling in the direction of the deserted cabins.
It was a damp malarious looking spot, though I dare say in the old days when the land was drained, it had been healthy enough.

Just below the cabins lay the largest of the four pools which gave the plantation its name.

The other three lying in the pastures higher up were used for watering the stock and were kept clean and free from plant growth.

But the lower pool, abandoned like the cabins, had been allowed to overflow its banks until it was completely surrounded with rushes and lily pads.
A rank growth of willow trees hung over the water and shut out all but the merest glint of sunlight.
Above this pool the cabins stretched in a double row occupying the base of the declivity on which the "big house" stood.