ld man pursued his one idea without a break in thought. Lee's words
made not the slightest impression.

"This question of the negro, Colonel Lee, you must face. You may dispose
of me now easily. But this question is still to be settled. The end of
that is not yet!"

"I, too, believe that Slavery is wrong, my friend. Yet surely this is
not the way to bring to the slave his freedom. On pikes to be driven
into the breasts of unoffending men and women! Two wrongs have never yet
made a right."

The old man lifted his head towards the hills and a look of religious
rapture overspread his furrowed face. His soul's deepest faith breathed
in his words:

"Moral suasion is a vain thing, sir. This issue can be settled in blood
alone."

The Colonel watched him with a growing feeling of futility.

"I have taken pains in this interview, Mr. Brown, to clear the way for
your surrender without bloodshed. I cannot persuade you?"

"Upon what terms?"

"Terms?"

"I said so, sir."

The Colonel marveled at his audacity. Yet he was in dead earnest. His
suggestion was not bravado.

"The only possible terms I can offer I suggested in my first message. I
will protect you and your men from this infuriated crowd and guarantee
you a fair trial by the civil authorities."

"I can't accept," Brown answered curtly. "You must allow me to leave
this place with my men and the prisoners I hold as hostages until I
reach the canal locks on the Maryland side. There I will release your
citizens, and as soon as this is done your troops may fire on us, and
pursue us."

"Such an offer is a waste of words. You must see that further resistance
is useless."

"You have the numbers on us, sir," Brown answered defiantly. "But we are
not afraid of death. I'd as lief die by a bullet as on the gallows. I
can do more now by dying than by living. I came here to destroy the
institution of Slavery by the sword--"

Lee's answer came with clean-cut emphasis.

"The law which protects Slavery is going to be repealed in God's own
time. I am, myself, working toward that end as well as you, sir, and the
end is sure. But at this moment the Constitution of the United States
to which we owe liberty, justice, order, progress, wealth and power,
guarantees this institution. Until its repeal it is my duty and it is
your duty to obey the law. Will you submit?"

Brown's answer came like the crack of a rifle.

"The laws of the United States I have burned in a public squa