AMONG THE PINES.



intimately, it was but natural that we should learn much
of each other.
  The " Colonel" was a highly cultivated and intelligent
gentleman, and during this journey a friendship sprung
up between us-afterward kept alive by a regular cor-
respondence which led him, with his wife and daugh-
ter, and the man Jim, to my house on his next visit at
the North, one year later.  I then promised-if I
should ever again travel in South Carolina-to visit
him on his plantation in the extreme north-eastern part
of the state.
  In December last, about the time of the passage of
the ordinance of secession, I had occasion to visit
Charleston, and, previous to setting out, dispatched a
letter to the Colonel with the information that I was
ready to be led of him "into the wilderness." On ar-
riving at the head-quarters of secession, I found a
missive awaiting me, in which my friend cordially re-
newed his previous tender of hospitality, gave me par-
ticular directions how to proceed, and stated that his
" man Jim" would meet me with a carriage at George-
town, and convey me thence, seventy miles, to " the
plantation."
  Having performed the business which led me to
Charleston, I set out for the rendezvous five days be-
fore the date fixed for the meeting, intending to occupy
the intervening time in an exploration of the ancient
town and its surroundings.
  The little steamer Nina (a cross between a full-



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