to gather to the sale, and, by the hour appointed for it to
commence, about five hundred men and women had collected on the ground.
Some were on horseback, some in carriages, but the majority were seated
on the grass, or on benches improvised for the occasion.

A few minutes before the 'exercises' commenced, the negroes were marched
upon the lawn. No seats had been provided for them, and they huddled
together inside a small area staked off for their reception. They were
of all colors and ages. Husbands and wives, parents and children,
grandparents and grandchildren, aunts, uncles, and cousins, gathered in
little family groups, and breathlessly awaited the stroke of the hammer
which was to decide their destiny. They were all clad in their Sunday
clothes, and looked clean and tidy; but on every face except Joe's was
depicted an ill-defined feeling of dread and consternation. Husbands
held their wives in their arms, and mothers hugged their children to
their bosoms, as if they might soon part forever; but when old Joe
passed among them, saying a low word to this one and the other, their
cloudy visages brightened, and a heavy load seemed to roll off their
hearts. Joe was as radiant as a summer morning, and walked about with a
quiet dignity and unconcern that might have led one to think him the
owner of the entire 'invoice of chattels.'

As the auctioneer--a spruce importation from Newbern--mounted the bench,
a splendid carriage, drawn by two magnificent grays, and driven by a
darky in livery, made its way through the crowd, and drew up opposite
the stand. In it were Dawsey and his wife!

The salesman's hammer came down. 'Gentlemen and ladies,' he said, 'the
sale has commenced. I am about to offer you one hundred and sixty-one
likely negro men and women, belonging to the estate of Robert Preston,
Esq., deceased. Each one will be particularly described when put up, and
all will be warranted as represented. They will be sold in families;
that is, husbands and wives, and parents and young children, will not be
separated. The terms are, one quarter cash, the balance in one year,
secured by an approved indorsed note. Persons having claims against the
estate will be allowed to pay by authenticated accounts and duebills.
The first lot I shall offer you will be the mulatto man Joe and his wife
Agnes. Joe is known through all this region as a negro of uncommon worth
and intelligence. He is'--

Here he was interrupted by Dawsey, w