noon
The month of August and the first portion of September wore away in this dreary manner , and it was perhaps a week later that Colonel Washington sent me to Frederick to make arrangements for some supplies . The distance , which was a scant fifty miles , was over a well-traveled road , and through a district so well protected that the Indians had not dared to visit it ; so I rode out of the fort one morning , taking with me only my negro boy Sam , whom I had selected for my servant since the day he had warned me against Polete . I remember that the day was very warm , and that there was no air stirring , so that we pushed forward with indifferent speed . At noon we reached a farmhouse owned by John Evans , where we remained until the heat had somewhat moderated , and set forward again about four o'clock in the afternoon . We had ridden for near an hour , and I was deep in my own thoughts , when I heard something breaking its way through the underbrush , and the next moment my horse shied violently as a negro stumbled blindly into the road and collapsed into a heap before he had taken half a dozen steps along it . I reined up sharply , and as I did so , heard Sam give a shrill cry of alarm . `` Shut up , boy , '' I cried , `` and get off and see what ails the man .