he slaves were
closely questioned, but all denied any knowledge of the runaway. Dan
escaped questioning, as he had taken up Vincent's horse to the house in
readiness for him to start as soon as he had finished breakfast.

All day the searchers rode about the plantation, examining every clump
of bushes, and assuring themselves that none of them had been used as a
place of refuge for the runaway.

"It's no good, Mr. Jackson," the sheriff said at last. "The man may have
been here; he aint here now. The only place we haven't searched is the
house, and you may be quite sure the slaves dare not conceal him there.
Too many would get to know it. No, sir, he's made a bolt of it, and you
will have to wait now till he is caught by chance, or shot by some
farmer or other in the act of stealing."

"I would lay a thousand dollars," Andrew Jackson exclaimed
passionately, "that young Wingfield knows something about his
whereabouts, and has lent him a hand!"

"Well, I should advise you to keep your mouth shut about it till you get
some positive proof," the sheriff said dryly. "I tell you it's no joke
to accuse a member of a family like the Wingfields of helping runaway
slaves to escape."

"I will bide my time," the planter said. "You said that some day you
would lay hands on Tony, dead or alive. You see if some day I don't lay
hands on young Wingfield."

"Well, it seems, Mr. Jackson," the sheriff remarked with a sneer, for he
was out of temper at the ill success of the day's work, "that he has
already laid hands on your son. It seems to me quite as likely that he
will lay hands on you as you on him."

Two days afterward, as Vincent was riding through the streets of
Richmond he saw to his surprise Andrew Jackson in close conversation
with Jonas Pearson.

"I wonder what those two fellows are talking about!" he said to himself.
"I expect Jackson is trying to pump Pearson as to the doings at the
Orangery. I don't like that fellow, and never shall, and he's just the
sort of man to do one a bad turn if he had the chance. However, as I
have never spoken to him about that affair from beginning to end, I
don't see that he can do any mischief if he wants to."

Andrew Jackson, however, had obtained information which he considered
valuable. He learned that Vincent had been away in a boat for five days,
and that his mother had been very uneasy about him. He also learned that
the boat was one belonging to Mr. Furniss, and that it was only