I was about to return to the house to inquire whether, after all, we might not have taken too much for granted in assuming as a certainty that Bella Vista would be attacked, when one of the pickets uttered a shout and, raising his hand, pointed.  I looked in the direction indicated, and there, sure enough, I beheld a party of negroes marching confidently toward the house.  How many there were I could not tell--for they were just then winding their way through thick detached masses of scrub beyond the boundaries of the estate--but the confident manner of their approach led me to suppose that they believed they were quite strong enough to achieve an easy conquest of the place.