d ignorance; with some, dancing and the free
use of the whip seemed to be producing surprising results. The whites
could not understand it. Much sugar was raised, and yet the negroes were
not satisfied, and now seemed to have gone mad. Destruction hung over
the whites, and they concluded to try hanging and burning in their
extremity--having no faith in justice and honesty for the blacks.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, owed their safety to the kindness of their
house-slaves.

Monsieur and Madame Baillou with their daughter, her husband, and two
white servants lived about thirty miles from Cap Francois, among the
mountains. A slave gave them notice of the rising: he hid them in the
forest and joined the revolt. At night he brought them food and led them
to another place of safety. He did this again and again: led them
through every danger and difficulty till they escaped to the sea. For
nineteen nights they were in the woods, and the negro risked his life to
save theirs. Why repeat instances? This was one of hundreds.

M. Odeluc was the superintendent of the Gallifet estate, the largest on
the Plain. "As happy as one of Gallifet's negroes," was a saying in the
district. He was sure of _his_ hands, and regretted the exaggerated
terror of the whites. With a friend and three or four soldiers he rode
out to the estate and found his negroes in arms with the body of a white
child for a standard. Alas! poor Odeluc! He believed the negroes were
dogs and would lick the hand that struck the blow. It was too late: he
and his attendants were cut down without mercy. Two only escaped to tell
the tale. Four thousand negroes were in arms and they were everywhere
successful. The Plain was in their possession; the quarters of Morin and
Limonade were in flames, and their ravages extended from the shore to
the mountains. Their recklessness was succeeded by regular organization
and systematic war. In the first moments of their headlong fury all
whites were murdered indiscriminately. This did not last: they soon
distinguished their enemies; and women and children were saved. The
blacks were headed by Jean Francois and Biassou--generals not to be
despised. Brave, rapid, unscrupulous; vain of grandeur, greedy of
plunder, they were not far from the marshals of France.

This, then, was not a revolt, but a revolution! Success would decide.
Never could the whites believe that the blacks were men. Oge had
revealed a widespread conspiracy, headed by w