374 Reminiscences of 



banging on the door, which our solicitous friends 

 insisted upon aiding. We finally got the porter 

 to take our telegram thrust under the door, and 

 upon reading it he cautiously opened sufficient for 

 us to squeeze through, having some trouble in keeping 

 out our officious friends, who said we should kill the 

 damned nigger for keeping gentlemen waiting. The 

 door closed locked, to the intense disgust of our body- 

 guard, who vented their disappointment in bad 

 words, banging knocks, and calls for several moments, 

 when they retired with oaths not agreeable to hear. 



I asked Tucker before leaving if he thought there 

 would be any danger of an attack on the car. He 

 said, "No; if there is any, shoot to kill, and we'll be 

 up there on the run." And as he left, he repeated 

 in the hearing of some of our body-guard, "Have 

 a good night's rest, and if there is any trouble, fire a 

 shot, and we '11 be up there quick. ' 



We got along very comfortably until about ten 

 o'clock, when our porter, who was a pretty well 

 frightened fellow, and kept an attentive ear, informed 

 us that a squad of men was coming up the track 

 toward us. Sure enough, we saw them by peeping 

 under the curtain at the door and immediately ex- 

 tinguished the few lights we had burning. The 

 squad soon arrived, and for a while we heard them 

 conversing at the car end, followed by a knock at 

 the door, to which we paid no attention. 



Several more vigorous knocks followed, with a 

 banging sufficient to have awakened us from sleep, 

 if we had been so engaged, and a rough voice 

 notified us that an important telegram had been 

 received. 



