Feud to its highest power. No statesman, no leader, no poet, no seer
could calm the spirit of the archaic beast in man, which this martyrdom
would raise if skillfully played. He was sure he could play the role
with success.

The one man in the North who saw with clear vision the thing which
Brown's failure had done was the Worcester clergyman.

Higginson was a preacher by accident. He was a born soldier. From the
first meeting with Brown his fighting spirit had answered his cry for
blood with a shout of approval. Higginson not only refused to run, but
also groaned with shame at the fears of his fellow conspirators. His
first utterance was characteristic of his spirit.

"I am overwhelmed with remorse that the men who gave him money and arms
could not have been by his side when he fell."

He stood his ground in Worcester and dared arrest. He did not proclaim
his guilt from the housetop. But his friends and neighbors knew and he
walked the streets with head erect.

He did more. He joined with John W. LeBarnes and immediately organized a
plot to liberate Brown by force. He raised the money and engaged George
H. Hoyt to go to Harper's Ferry, ostensibly to appear as his attorney at
the trial, in reality to act as a spy, discover the strength of the
jail and find whether it could be stormed and taken by a company of
determined men.

At his first interview with Brown the spy revealed his purpose.

"I have come from Boston to rescue you," he whispered.

The old man's face was convulsed with anger. He spoke in the tones of
final command which had always closed argument with friend or foe.

"Never will I consent to such a scheme."

"But listen--"

"You listen to me, young man. The bare mention of this thing again and I
shall refuse to see or speak to you. Do you accept my decision, sir?"

Hoyt agreed at once. Only in this way could he keep in touch with the
man whom he had come to save.

"The last thing on this earth I would ask," Brown continued sternly, "is
to be taken from this jail except by the State of Virginia when I shall
ascend the scaffold."

Hoyt looked longingly at the old-fashioned fireplace in his prison room.
Two men could have crawled up its flue at the same time.

His refusal did not stop Higginson's efforts. He appealed to the forlorn
wife at North Elba, New York, to go to Harper's Ferry, ask to see her
husband and whisper her plan into his ear. He sent the money and got
Mrs. Brown as far as Bal