The night had come, but save for the faintly heard complaint of some
far-distant dog, there was nothing to break the quiet of the deserted
land which lay between the two armies. Having torn to pieces and
carefully scattered the bits of paper, Josiah, who while doing one thing
could not think of another, began to reflect on what he had done. He had
been too long in servitude not to respect authority. If any one knew--but
no one could know. He himself had said that what had come upon Lamb was a
judgment--the act of one who had said, "I will repay." It troubled a mind
whose machinery was of childlike incapacity to deal with problems
involving the moral aspects of conduct. Perhaps this had been a chance to
give Lamb an opportunity to repent by setting him free; but there had
already been interference with the judgment of God. More personally
material events relieved the black from responsibility. His quick ear
caught the sound of troopers, the sharp notes of steel clinking; he had
no mind to be picked up by the enemy's horse, and dismissing all other
considerations he took to the woods and walked rapidly away. Late in the
evening he crossed the North Anna with a train of wagons, as driver of an
unruly mule team, one of which had rewarded his driver in kind for brutal
use of the whip and perverted English.
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