trembled when listening to the tale, that "insurrection among the slaves
had commenced on the plantation of Col. Alexander; that three or four of
the patrol had been killed, &c." The day after, people flocked from every
quarter, armed to the teeth, swearing vengeance on the defenceless slaves.
Nothing can teach plainer than this, the constant and tormenting fear in
which the slaveholder lives, and yet he repents not of his deeds.

The kind old Colonel was placed in the most difficult and unenviable
position. His warm heart was filled with sorrow for the loss of his
slaves, but not alone, as is generally the case in such instances, because
he had lost so much property. He truly regretted the death of his faithful
servants, and boldly rebuked the occasion of their sudden decease. When
beset and harassed by his neighbors to give up his slaves to be tried for
insurrection and murder, he boldly resisted, contending for the natural
right of the slaves, to act in their own defence, and especially when on
his own plantation and in their own quarters. They contended, however,
that as his slaves had got up a dance, and had invited those of the
adjoining plantations, the patrol was only discharging their duty in
looking after them; but the gallant old Colonel defended his slaves, and
told them plainly that he should continue to do so to the extent of his
ability and means.

The poor slaves were sad enough, on the morning after their merry meeting,
and they might be seen standing in groups, conversing with a very
different air from the one they had worn the day before.

Their business was now to prepare the bodies of their late associates for
the grave. Robert, the brave African, who had so boldly led them on the
night before, and who had so judiciously provided for their escape, was
calmly sleeping in death's cold embrace. He left a wife and five slave