The robbers shout out "hands up," and one man points his
weapon at the passenger's head, whilst another rifles his pockets. If a
passenger fails to hold up his hands he is shot down. A passenger on the
Northern Prairies told me of a fellow passenger, who under such
circumstances having a revolver, aimed at a robber and pulled the
trigger, but it missed fire, and he was instantly shot down. But these
attacks are now more rare, and the officials are more prepared for them.
Sometimes the robbers get on board the train as passengers, and act
suddenly in concert. All along the country now we pass the cabins of the
slaves, familiarised to us by "Uncle Tom's Cabin." These cabins are
pleasant little houses with verandahs, and I reflected how favourably
they compared with the "homes" of many of the London poor, and how happy
the slaves might have been but for the knowledge that at any time they
were liable to be sold like a mule or a bullock. Now we pass sugar,
cotton and rice plantations, and go through such cultivations all
through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, North and South Carolina,
Georgia, and Virginia. I gathered sugar and cotton going along at
places, saw a racoon in a stream fishing for crawfish, and go through a
country, in which are plenty of alligators.
On the early morning of Sunday (December 21st), we go through swamps,
such as we used to read of as the hiding-places of runaway slaves.
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