"Please come to the point, Mr. Blennerhassett," said Van Wagoner, rather impatiently. "He is either your slave or he isn't. Did you buy him?

"I did," assented Blennerhassett. "I bought him in New York before I went West."

"Did you ever give him his freedom, legally, I mean?" inquired Van Wagoner.

66

It amounts to the same thing," replied Blennerhassett. "I never intended to make any further claim upon his services."

66

No it don't, Massa," cried Ransome. "You can't give a nigger his freedom any such way as that; Mr. Van Wagoner tole me so."

66

'Well," said Van Wagoner, “I imagine I have got the truth of the matter at last. This man Ransome is your property and you have a right to sell him to anyone who wishes to buy him."

"But I won't sell him!" exclaimed Blennerhassett. "I know, to my disgrace, that I have purchased flesh and blood; but I never sold any, and I never will."

"Yes you will, Massa," said Ransome. "You'll do it jess to oblige me. They are goin' to have a war, and the fust thing I know they'll have me aboard one of the ships, and they'll make me fight, and I don't want to. Mr. Van Wagoner has found me a good, kind master who owns a big cotton plantation down in ole Alabama, and I want to go with him very much. Now Massa Blennerhassett, don't make me go to war when I want to go back to the ole plantation and die there when my time comes, which may be 'fore long."

Mrs. Blennerhassett understood the devotion of the old negro which had led him to take such a step. She saw that it was best for Ransome to do as he proposed. Those were not the days when negroes, even if they were free, had much chance to earn their living in the northern states, so she took the matter at once from her husband's hands,

'What is your proposition?" she asked, addressing Van Wagoner.

66 As your man has told you, I have found him a good master. The man is willing to buy him from me, and I am willing to buy him from you. To please Ransome, I have got the bill of sale, all made out, with me. He said you were in a hurry to leave New York. Of course, the man is pretty old, but I think there's some years' work left in him yet." Ransome drew himself up and tried to look as young as possible. "I am willing," continued Van Wagoner, "to give you two hundred and fifty dollars cash for him.”

"You must do it, Massa!" cried Ransome. "Missus said you wanted two hundred dollars to go back to Ireland, and I jess thought out, all by myself, the way it could be done. Please do it, Massa Blennerhassett, for it will be best for all of us.'

The trade was consummated; and thus did the generous-hearted old retainer repay the kind act of the master who had allowed him to see his old mother once more and to hold her in his arms when she died.

CHAPTER XXXI

FROM ICY BLASTS TO SUMMER SKIES

HE good ship "Patriot " sailed out of the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, one morn

TH

ing late in the month of December, 1812. It was what was called in those days a packet-ship and carried the mail, freight, and passengers. The freight consisted of barrels of rice and bales of cotton and tobacco. The captain had in his cabin, besides, a number of letters containing money to pay for supplies to be ordered from the city of New York, to which port the vessel was bound. The captain and crew numbered fifteen, the passengers being twelve.

The passengers, with three exceptions, were planters bound North to buy supplies for the use of their families and slaves during the coming winter. The three exceptions were Mrs. Joseph Alston, Peggy, a colored woman who had been her nurse and also that of her only son, and Sam, a young colored boy of about twenty-one years of age.

The accommodations for passengers were not very good and, naturally, the captain's cabin had been set apart for the use of Mrs. Alston who was well known to those on board although she was not personally acquainted with any of them. The captain knew that Mrs. Alston was the wife of a former governor of South Carolina and, of course, had communicated this information to the passengers.

The sky was cloudy; a strong breeze was blowing from the East as the vessel left port, but there were no

indications of a storm and Captain Pointdexter anticipated a speedy run to the port of destination. During the day, however, the clouds became thicker and blacker and about six o'clock the wind shifted to the Northeast and began to blow strongly, giving every indication of an approaching gale.

Mrs. Alston remained on deck, for the captain's cabin seemed close and she was not in the best of health. The loss of her little son had weighed upon her both mentally and physically and there was satisfaction in watching the on-coming of the storm and the rise and fall of the great waves through which the vessel was plunging. By a sudden lurch, Theodosia was thrown violently against the main-hatch and would have fallen if the faithful Sam had not prevented. The captain then approached and advised her to go below. On reaching her cabin, she found that she had sustained quite a severe injury to her left hand for it was badly bruised. It began to swell very soon and her marriage ring was deeply embedded in the flesh and caused her much pain. She sent Sam to inquire if there was a doctor on board; he came back with the information that no physician was taken on such short trips. She was a young woman of great resource, and told Sam to find the ship's carpenter. He soon came, and by the aid of a file the golden circlet which was the emblem of her union with her husband was soon removed. As the carpenter placed it in her left hand, in two pieces, a shudder of apprehension ran through her, although she was not superstitious. It seemed then as if the bond between her and the husband whom she loved was broken forever.

During the night, the storm increased in violence and developed into a fierce northeaster. The little packet labored and plunged through the waves and into the deep troughs made by them. Yet, she held her own manfully, and when morning dawned she was opposite

the coast of North Carolina, and rapidly approaching that most treacherous part of the southern coast, Cape Hatteras. Despite the entreaties of Peggy, her faithful nurse, Theodosia insisted upon going on deck. There, a scene of unsurpassed grandeur met her eyes. The skies were black and the distance to them seemed not half so far as to the blue skies when on land. Giant waves struck the ship and like white, foaming mountains, broke over it. The weather had grown exceedingly cold, and spars and rigging and every article of woodwork about the ship were encased in ice.

Captain Pointdexter was a brave man-up to a certain point. Then his heart failed him and he lost that control of his feelings that marks the man of nerve. But he did what a less prudent man might not have done, and by it he secured the safety, for a time, of his vessel and the human beings that she carried. Making a wide détour towards the East, he altered the course of his ship and, instead of attempting the almost hopeless task of beating forward in the face of the wind, he was soon running South before it.

Then a miraculous change took place. The weather which had been so cold, grew much warmer, the ice melted quickly, and little streamlets of water came down from all parts of the spars and rigging. The vessel had struck the Gulf Stream and, although the little packet was driven forward by the strong northeaster, serious danger seemed, for the time, to be averted.

Then the over-worked crew and the frightened passengers took the offered opportunity for rest. Theodosia retired to her cabin where her slumbers were watched over by the faithful Peggy, while Sam, outside the cabin door, slept with one eye open so that he might be on hand if his beloved mistress should need his services.

When Theodosia awoke in the morning, Peggy greeted her with loud exclamations of delight. The