e talk, it appeared that there was but one witness against
us--and that that witness could not be produced. Master Thomas would not
tell us _who_ his informant was; but we suspected, and suspected _one_
person _only_. Several circumstances seemed to point SANDY out, as
our betrayer. His entire knowledge of our plans his participation
in them--his withdrawal from us--his dream, and his simultaneous
presentiment that we were betrayed--the taking us, and the leaving
him--were calculated to turn suspicion toward him; and yet, we could not
suspect him. We all loved him too well to think it _possible_ that he
could have betrayed us. So we rolled the guilt on other shoulders.

We were literally dragged, that morning, behind horses, a distance of
fifteen miles, and placed in the Easton jail. We were glad to reach the
end of our journey, for our pathway had been the scene of insult and
mortification. Such is the power of public{230} opinion, that it
is hard, even for the innocent, to feel the happy consolations of
innocence, when they fall under the maledictions of this power. How
could we regard ourselves as in the right, when all about us denounced
us as criminals, and had the power and the disposition to treat us as
such.

In jail, we were placed under the care of Mr. Joseph Graham, the sheriff
of the county. Henry, and John, and myself, were placed in one room,
and Henry Baily and Charles Roberts, in another, by themselves. This
separation was intended to deprive us of the advantage of concert, and
to prevent trouble in jail.

Once shut up, a new set of tormentors came upon us. A swarm of imps,
in human shape the slave-traders, deputy slave-traders, and agents of
slave-traders--that gather in every country town of the state, watching
for chances to buy human flesh (as buzzards to eat carrion) flocked in
upon us, to ascertain if our masters had placed us in jail to be sold.
Such a set of debased and villainous creatures, I never saw before,
and hope never to see again. I felt myself surrounded as by a pack of
_fiends_, fresh from _perdition_. They laughed, leered, and grinned at
us; saying, "Ah! boys, we've got you, havn't we? So you were about
to make your escape? Where were you going to?" After taunting us, and
peering at us, as long as they liked, they one by one subjected us to
an examination, with a view to ascertain our value; feeling our arms
and legs, and shaking us by the shoulders to see if we were sound and
heal