CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SLAVE SALE.
At twelve o'clock upon the day after that on which Gerald Leslie and his daughter had been parted by the pitiless attorney, the slave auction commenced.
The sale was to take place in a public auction room in New Orleans; an apartment capable of containing upward of a hundred people.
At one end of this room stood the rostrum of the auctioneer, while immediately before his desk was stretched a long table of rough deal, upon which one by one the slaves took their places, while the auctioneer expatiated upon their merits.
Round this table was placed benches, on which the buyers and lookers-on lounged during the auction.
The plantation hands were the first to be sold, and the sale had lasted for some hours when Toby, the mulatto, slowly mounted the table, and took his stand before the eager eyes of the buyers.
The countenance of the slave was sad and care-worn; and, as he ascended the table, he looked anxiously round the room as if seeking among all those eager faces for some one he expected to see there.
But it was evident that he looked in vain, for, after a long and earnest scrutiny of that varied crowd, he sighed heavily, and his head sank upon his breast with a gesture of despair.
The bidding lasted for some time, and the most persevering bidder was Silas Craig himself, who sat on a bench close to the table, and amused himself by whittling a stick with his bowie knife.