go down," the doctor said. "He can jump up behind and
go with us. He will get there all the quicker."

In five minutes they were driving down the village, with Dan in the back
seat. On the way the doctor obtained from Lucy a more detailed account
of their adventures.

"So he is one of those Confederate officers who broke prison at Elmira,"
he said. "I saw yesterday that one of his companions was captured."

"Was he, sir? How was that?"

"It seems that he had made his way down to Washington, and was staying
at one of the hotels there as a Mr. James of Baltimore. As he was going
through the streets he was suddenly attacked by a negro, who assaulted
him with such fury that he would have killed him had he not been dragged
off by passers-by. The black would have been very roughly treated, but
he denounced the man he had attacked as one of the Confederate officers
who had escaped from the prison. It seems that the negro had been a
slave of his who had been barbarously treated, and finally succeeded in
making his escape and reaching England, after which he went to Canada;
and now that it is safe for an escaped slave to live in the Northern
States without fear of arrest or ill-treatment, he had come down to
Washington with the intention of engaging as a teamster with one of the
Northern armies, in the hope, when he made his way to Richmond, of being
able to gain some news of his wife, whom his master had sold before he
ran away from him."

"It served the man right!" Lucy said indignantly. "It's a good thing
that the slaves should turn the table sometimes upon masters who
ill-treat them."

"You don't think my patient would ill-treat his slaves?" the doctor
asked with a little smile.

"I am sure he wouldn't," the girl said indignantly. "Why, the boy behind
you is one of his slaves, and I am sure he would give his life for his
master."

Dan had overheard the doctor's story and now exclaimed:

"No, sah. Massa Vincent de kindest ob masters. If all like him, de
slaves eberywhere contented and happy. What was de name of dat man, sah,
you was speaking of?"

"His name was Jackson," the doctor answered.

"I tought so," Dan exclaimed in excitement. "Massa never mentioned de
names ob de two officers who got out wid him, and it war too dark for me
to see their faces, but dat story made me tink it must be him. Bery bad
man dat; he libs close to us, and Massa Vincent one day pretty nigh kill
him because he beat dat bery man who