FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77  
78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   >>   >|  
he slaves were closely questioned, but all denied any knowledge of the runaway. Dan escaped questioning, as he had taken up Vincent's horse to the house in readiness for him to start as soon as he had finished breakfast. All day the searchers rode about the plantation, examining every clump of bushes, and assuring themselves that none of them had been used as a place of refuge for the runaway. "It's no good, Mr. Jackson," the sheriff said at last. "The man may have been here; he aint here now. The only place we haven't searched is the house, and you may be quite sure the slaves dare not conceal him there. Too many would get to know it. No, sir, he's made a bolt of it, and you will have to wait now till he is caught by chance, or shot by some farmer or other in the act of stealing." "I would lay a thousand dollars," Andrew Jackson exclaimed passionately, "that young Wingfield knows something about his whereabouts, and has lent him a hand!" "Well, I should advise you to keep your mouth shut about it till you get some positive proof," the sheriff said dryly. "I tell you it's no joke to accuse a member of a family like the Wingfields of helping runaway slaves to escape." "I will bide my time," the planter said. "You said that some day you would lay hands on Tony, dead or alive. You see if some day I don't lay hands on young Wingfield." "Well, it seems, Mr. Jackson," the sheriff remarked with a sneer, for he was out of temper at the ill success of the day's work, "that he has already laid hands on your son. It seems to me quite as likely that he will lay hands on you as you on him." Two days afterward, as Vincent was riding through the streets of Richmond he saw to his surprise Andrew Jackson in close conversation with Jonas Pearson. "I wonder what those two fellows are talking about!" he said to himself. "I expect Jackson is trying to pump Pearson as to the doings at the Orangery. I don't like that fellow, and never shall, and he's just the sort of man to do one a bad turn if he had the chance. However, as I have never spoken to him about that affair from beginning to end, I don't see that he can do any mischief if he wants to." Andrew Jackson, however, had obtained information which he considered valuable. He learned that Vincent had been away in a boat for five days, and that his mother had been very uneasy about him. He also learned that the boat was one belonging to Mr. Furniss, and that it was only
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77  
78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Jackson

 

Andrew

 

slaves

 

sheriff

 

runaway

 
Vincent
 

Pearson

 

learned

 

Wingfield

 
chance

riding

 
conversation
 

surprise

 

streets

 

Richmond

 

talking

 

fellows

 

afterward

 

temper

 

escaped


questioning

 

remarked

 

success

 

expect

 

knowledge

 

considered

 

valuable

 

questioned

 

information

 

obtained


closely

 
belonging
 

Furniss

 

uneasy

 

mother

 
mischief
 

denied

 

fellow

 

doings

 

Orangery


beginning

 

affair

 

spoken

 

However

 

assuring

 

bushes

 
caught
 

farmer

 

thousand

 

dollars