f de town on de north road, and
dare we found sure 'nough dat two men, wid negro wench and chile, had
stopped dere. She seem bery unhappy and cry all de time. De men say dey
bought her at Richmond, and show de constable of de village de paper dat
dey had bought female slabe Sally Moore and her chile. De constable
speak to woman, but she seem frightened out of her life and no say
anyting. Dey drive off wid her early in de morning. Den make inquiries
again at de town and at de station. We find dat a man like Pearson get
out. He had only little hand-bag with him. He ask one of de men at de
station which was de way to de norf road. Den we find dat one of de
constables hab seen a horse and cart wid two men in it, with negro woman
and child. One of de men look like Yankee--dat what make him take notice
of it. We 'spose dat oder man went back to Richmond again."

"That is all right, Dan, and you have done capitally. Now at Florence we
will take up the hunt. It is a long way down there; and if they drive
all the way, as I hope they will, it will take them a fortnight, so that
we shall have gained a good deal of time on them. The people at the
station are sure to remember the three boxes that lay there for so long
without being claimed. Of course they may have driven only till they got
fairly out of reach. Then they may either have sold the horse and cart,
or the fellow Pearson has with him may have driven it back. But I should
think they would most likely sell it. In that case they would not be
more than a week from the time they left Richmond to the time they took
train again for the South. However, whether they have got a fortnight or
three weeks' start of us will not make much difference. With the
description we can give of Pearson, and the fact that there was a
negress and child, and those three boxes, we ought to be able to trace
him."

It was twelve at night when the train arrived at Florence. As nothing
could be done until next morning, Vincent went to an hotel. As soon as
the railway officials were likely to be at their offices he was at the
station again. The tip of a dollar secured the attention of the man in
the baggage room.

"Three boxes and a black bag came on here a month ago, you say, and lay
here certainly four or five days--perhaps a good deal longer. Of course
I remember them. Stood up in that corner there. They had been checked
right through. I will look at the books and see what day they went. I
don't re