rriedly and nervously written. I read:

'MY DEAREST FRIEND: I know _you_ have not forsaken me, but
I have written you, oh! so many times. To-day, Ally has told me
that perhaps our letters are intercepted at the Trenton post
office. It must be so. He takes this to Newbern. Is he not kind? He
has been my faithful friend through all. Though ordered away from
the plantation, he refused to go, and stood by me through the
worst. He whom my own sister so cruelly wronged, has done
everything for me! Whatever may become of me, I shall ever bless
him.

'I have not heard from or seen any of my friends. Even my brother
has not answered my letters; but he must be here, on the 17th, at
the sale. That is now my only hope. I shall then be freed from this
misery--worse than death. God bless you!
Your wretched SELMA.'

'I will go,' was all that I said. Kate sat down, and wept 'Oh! some
terrible thing has befallen her! What can it be?'

I was giving some hurried directions to my partners, when a telegram was
handed in. It was from Boston, and addressed to me personally. I opened
it, and read:

'I have just heard that Selma is a slave. To be sold on the
seventeenth. I can't go. You must. Buy her on my account. Pay any
price. I have written Frank. Let nothing prevent your starting at
once. If your partners should be short while you're away, let them
draw on me.
'AUGUSTUS CRAGIN.'

It was then the morning of the twelfth. Making all the connections, and
there being no delay of the trains, I should reach the plantation early
on the seventeenth.

At twelve o'clock I was on the way. Steam was too slow for my
impatience. I would have harnessed the lightning.

At last--it was sundown of the sixteenth--the stage drove into Newbern.

With my carpet bag in my hand, I rushed into the hotel. Four or five
loungers were in the office, and the lazy bartender was mixing drinks
behind the counter.

'Sir, I want a horse, or a horse and buggy, at once.'

'A horse? Ye're in a hurry, hain't ye?'

'Yes.'

'Wall, I reckon ye'll hev ter git over it. Thar hain't a durned critter
in th' whole place.'

'I'm in no mood for jesting, sir. I want a horse _at once_. I will
deposit twice his value.'

'Ye couldn't git nary critter, stranger, ef ye wus made uv gold. T