lla
suddenly darted past the keeper, and ran for her life. It was not a
great distance from the prison to the long bridge which passes from the
lower part of the city across the Potomac to the extensive forests and
woodlands of the celebrated Arlington Heights, then occupied by that
distinguished relative and descendant of the immortal Washington, Mr.
Geo. W. Custis. Thither the poor fugitive directed her flight. So
unexpected was her escape that she had gained several rods the start
before the keeper had secured the other prisoners, and rallied his
assistants to aid in the pursuit. It was at an hour, and in a part of
the city where horses could not easily be obtained for the chase; no
bloodhounds were at hand to run down the flying woman, and for once it
seemed as if there was to be a fair trial of speed and endurance
between the slave and the slave-catchers.

The keeper and his force raised the hue-and-cry on her path as they
followed close behind; but so rapid was the flight along the wide
avenue that the astonished citizens, as they poured forth from their
dwellings to learn the cause of alarm, were only able to comprehend the
nature of the case in time to fall in with the motley throng in
pursuit, or raise an anxious prayer to heaven as they refused to join
in the chase (as many a one did that night) that the panting fugitive
might escape, and the merciless soul-dealer for once be disappointed of
his prey. And now, with the speed of an arrow, having passed the
avenue, with the distance between her and her pursuers constantly
increasing, this poor, hunted female gained the "Long Bridge," as it is
called, where interruption seemed improbable. Already her heart began
to beat high with the hope of success. She had only to pass
three-quarters of a mile across the bridge, when she could bury herself
in a vast forest, just at the time when the curtain of night would
close around her, and protect her from the pursuit of her enemies.

But God, by his providence, had otherwise determined. He had ordained
that an appalling tragedy should be enacted that night within plain
sight of the President's house, and the Capitol of the Union, which
would be an evidence wherever it should be known of the unconquerable
love of liberty which the human heart may inherit, as well as a fresh
admonition to the slave-dealer of the cruelty and enormity of his
crimes.

Just as the pursuers passed the high draw, soon after entering upon the
b