sted. Of five men he was sure. His son,
Owen, he knew could be depended on without the shadow of turning. Yet
Oliver was the second disciple chosen. He had forgiven the boy for
the fight over the pistol and had taken pains to regain his complete
submission. John Henry Kagi was the third chosen disciple, a young
newspaper reporter of excellent mind and trained pen. He had been
captured by United States troops in Kansas as a guerrilla raider and was
imprisoned first at Lecompton and then at Tecumseh. The fourth disciple
selected was Aaron Dwight Stevens, an ex-convict from the penitentiary
at Fort Leavenworth. Stevens was by far the most daring and interesting
figure in the group. His knowledge of military tactics was destined to
make him an invaluable aide. The uncanny in Brown's spirit had appealed
to his imagination from the day he made his escape from the penitentiary
and met the old man. The fifth disciple chosen was John E. Cook, a man
destined to play the most important role in the new divine mission with
the poorest qualification for the task. Born of a well-to-do family in
Haddon, Connecticut, he had studied law in Brooklyn and New York. He
dropped his studies against the protest of his people in 1855, and,
driven by the spirit of adventure, found his way into Kansas and at
last led his band of twenty guerrillas into John Brown's camp. Brown's
attention was riveted on him from the day they met. He was a man of
pleasing personality and the finest rifle shot in Kansas. He was genial;
he was always generous; He was brave to the point of recklessness; and
he was impulsive, indiscreet and utterly reckless when once bent on a
purpose. His sister had married Willard, the Governor of Indiana.

Brown's new plan required a large sum of money. With the prestige
his fighting in Kansas had given him, he believed the Abolition
philanthropists of the East would give this sum. He left his disciples
to drill and returned East to get the money.

In Boston his success was genuine, although the large amount which he
asked was slow in coming.

The old man succeeded in deceiving his New England friends completely as
to the Pottawattomie murders. On this event he early became a cheerful,
consistent and successful liar. This trait of his character had been
fully developed in his youth. Everywhere he was acclaimed by the pious
as, "Captain Brown, the old partisan hero of Kansas warfare."

His magnetic, uncanny personality rarely faile