brought away in his hands, and which had
been hung up in his room by Toby, were left hanging there still,
untouched.

The family had not recovered from the dismay his disappearance
occasioned, when they had cause to rejoice that he was gone. Ropes and
his crew returned, as Pepperill had predicted. They were intoxicated and
bloodthirsty. They had brought a rope, with which to hang their victim
before the old clergyman's door. They were furious on finding he had
eluded them, and searched the house with oaths and uproar. Virginia, on
her knees, clung to her father, praying that he might not be harmed, and
that Penn, whom all had been so anxious just now to find, might be safe
from discovery.

Exasperated by their unsuccessful search, the villains hesitated about
laying violent hands on the blind old man, and concluded to wreak their
vengeance on Toby. That he was a freed negro, was alone a sufficient
offence in their eyes to merit a whipping. But he had done more; he had
been devoted to the schoolmaster, and they believed he had concealed
him. So they seized him, dragged him from the house, bared his back, and
tied him to a tree.

As long as the mob had confined itself to searching the premises, Mr.
Villars had held his peace. But the moment his faithful old servant was
in danger, he roused himself. He rushed to the door, bareheaded, his
white hair flowing, his staff in his hand. Both his children accompanied
him,--Salina, who was really not void of affection, appearing scarcely
less anxious and indignant than her sister.

There, in the light of a wood-pile to which fire had been set, stood the
old negro, naked to the waist, lashed fast to the trunk, writhing with
pain and terror; his brutal tormentors grouped around him in the glare
of the flames, preparing, with laughter, oaths, and much loose,
leisurely swaggering, to flay his flesh with rods.

"My friends!" cried the old clergyman, with an energy that startled
them, "what are you about to do?"

"We're gwine to sarve this nigger," said the man Gad, "jest as every
free nigger'll git sarved that's found in the state three months from
now."

"Free niggers is a nuisance," added Ropes, now very drunk, and very much
inclined to make a speech on a barrel which his friends rolled out for
him. "A nuisance!" he repeated, with a hiccough, steadying himself on
his rostrum by holding a branch of the tree. "And let me say to you,
feller-patriots, that one of the glorious fru