ER XIII

WHEREIN THE ROUTE OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD IS SURVEYED AND SAMSON AND
HARRY SPEND A NIGHT IN THE HOME OF HENRY BRIMSTEAD AND HEAR SURPRISING
REVELATIONS, CONFIDENTIALLY DISCLOSED, AND ARE CHARMED BY THE PERSONALITY
OF HIS DAUGHTER ANNABEL.

Early in the autumn of that year the Reverend Elijah Lovejoy of Alton had
spent a night with the Traylors on his way to the North. Sitting by the
fireside he had told many a vivid tale of the cruelties of slavery.

"I would not have you think that all slave-holders are wicked and
heartless," he said. "They are like other men the world over. Some are
kind and indulgent. If all men were like them, slavery could be
tolerated. But they are not. Some men are brutal in the North as well as
in the South. If not made so by nature they are made so by drink. To give
them the power of life and death over human beings, which they seem to
have in parts of the South, is a crime against God and civilization. Our
country can not live and prosper with such a serpent in its bosom. No
good man should rest until the serpent is slain."

"I agree with you," said Samson.

"I knew that you would," the minister went on. "We have already had some
help from you but we need more. I take it as a duty which God has laid
upon me to help every fugitive that reaches my door. Thousands of New
Englanders have come into Illinois in the last year. They will help the
good work of mercy and grace. If you hear three taps upon your window
after dark or the hoot of an owl in your dooryard you will know what it
means. Fix some place on your farm where these poor people who are
seeking the freedom which God wills for all His children, may find rest
and refreshment and security until they have strength to go on."

Within a week after the visit of Mr. Lovejoy, Samson and Harry built a
hollow haystack about half-way from the house to the barn. The stack had
a comfortable room inside of it about eight feet by seven and some six
feet in height. Its entrance was an opening near the bottom of the stack
well screened by the pendant hay. But no fugitive came to occupy it that
winter.

Early in March Abe wrote a letter to Samson in which he said:

* * * * *

"I have not been doing much. I have been getting the hang of things.
There are so many able men here that I feel like being modest for a
while. It's good practice if it is a little hard on me. Here are such men
as Theodore Ford,