“What do you mean, Mr. Vance?”
“The chance is, she has been forced to marry some other man.”
“I know, sir, that would be the probability in the case of ninety-nine slave-women out of a hundred. But Flora once swore to me on the crucifix, she would be true to me or die. And I feel very certain she will keep her oath.”
“Ah! slavery is so crafty and remorseless in working on human passions,” sighed Vance. “But you are right, my dear Peek, in hoping on. Tell me of your adventures.”
“When you and I parted at Memphis, Mr. Vance, I went to Montreal. Flora had left there some weeks before. At New York I sought out Mr. Charlton; also the policemen. But I could get nothing out of them. At length a Canadian told me he had met Flora on board the Baltimore boat. I followed up the clew till it broke, as I’ve told you. Since then I’ve been seeking my wife and boy through all the Cotton States. The money you gave me from Mr. Berwick lasted me seven years; and then I had to work to get the means of continuing my search. There are not many counties in the Slave States which I have not visited.”
“During your travels, Peek, you must have had opportunities of helping on the good cause.”
“Yes, Mr. Vance. I needed some strong motive to send me far and wide among my poor brethren. Without it I might have led a selfish life, content with my own comforts. But God has ordered it all right. I bought a pass as an old slave preacher, and thus was able to visit the plantations, and establish secret societies in the cause of freedom. Give the slaves arms, treat them like men, and they will fight. But they will not rise unarmed in useless insurrection. As soon as the North will give them the means of defending their freedom, they will break their fetters. It is the North, and not the South, that now holds the slave in check.”
“Yes, Peek; public sentiment is almost as much poisoned at the North as at the South, by this slavery virus.”
“And what have you, sir, been about all these years?”
“Much of my time has been spent in Kansas. I’ve been a border ruffian.”