d been secured to freedom, he
returned with renewed ardor to his old project. He stayed for three
weeks at Douglass's house at Rochester, and while there carried on
an extensive correspondence with sympathizers and supporters, and
thoroughly demonstrated to all with whom he conversed that he was a
man of one all-absorbing idea.

In 1859, very shortly before the raid at Harpers Ferry, Douglass met
Brown by appointment, in an abandoned stone quarry near Chambersburg,
Pennsylvania. John Brown was already an outlaw, with a price upon his
head; for a traitor had betrayed his plan the year before, and he had
for this reason deferred its execution for a year. The meeting was
surrounded by all the mystery and conducted with all the precautions
befitting a meeting of conspirators. Brown had changed the details
of his former plan, and told Douglass of his determination to take
Harpers Ferry. Douglass opposed the measure vehemently, pointing out
its certain and disastrous failure. Brown met each argument with
another, and was not to be swayed from his purpose. They spent more
than a day together discussing the details of the movement. When the
more practical Douglass declined to take part in Brown's attempt, the
old man threw his arms around his swarthy friend, in a manner typical
of his friendship for the dark race, and said: "Come with me,
Douglass, I will defend you with my life. I want you for a special
purpose. When I strike, the bees will begin to swarm, and I shall
want you to help hive them." But Douglass would not be persuaded. His
abandonment of his old friend on the eve of a desperate enterprise was
criticised by some, who, as Douglass says, "kept even farther from
this brave and heroic man than I did." John Brown went forth to meet
a felon's fate and wear a martyr's crown: Douglass lived to fight the
battles of his race for years to come. There was room for both, and
each played the part for which he was best adapted. It would have
strengthened the cause of liberty very little for Douglass to die with
Brown.

It is quite likely, however, that he narrowly escaped Brown's fate.
When the raid at Harpers Ferry had roused the country, Douglass, with
other leading Northern men, was indicted in Virginia for complicity in
the affair. Brown's correspondence had fallen into the hands of
the Virginia authorities, and certain letters seemed to implicate
Douglass. A trial in Virginia meant almost certain death. Governor
Wise, of