Douglass stared at him. Was it the torchlight that so transfigured his old friend? He stood like an avenging angel, illumined by the force that rose up in him. It charged his whole being with power—his eyes, his frame, the leashed, metallic voice.
“I am ready!”
Douglass looked at Kagi. Kagi’s eyes fixed on the lifted face. He turned and looked at Green, and on that black giant’s countenance he saw the same imprint. He wet his trembling lips. An icy hand had closed about his heart. He was afraid.
“The map, Kagi!” John Brown spoke sharply.
Kagi was ready. Brown knelt on the ground, and Kagi spread a wide sheet in front of him. He brought the torch near and knelt holding it, while Brown traced the lines with his finger.
“Here is the long line of our mountain fortress,” he said tersely. “Right here east of the Shenandoah, the mountains rise to a height of two thousand feet or more. This natural defense is right at the entrance to the mountain passage. See! An hour’s climb from this point and a hundred men could be inside an inaccessible fastness. Here attacks could be repelled with little difficulty. Here are Loudon Heights—then beyond the passage plunges straight into the heart of the thickest slave districts. The slaves can get to us without difficulty, after we have made our way through here.”
His finger had stopped. Douglass leaned forward. He was holding his breath. He could feel Brown’s eyes upon him.
“But that—that is Harper’s Ferry!” Douglass said, and his voice faltered.
He could feel the surge of strength in the other man.
“Yes,” he said, “Harper’s Ferry is the safest natural entrance to our mountain passage. We shall go through Harper’s Ferry, and there we’ll take whatever arms we need.”