grew buoyant with hope; the lightness of his heart gave elasticity to
his step and sent the blood rejoicingly through his veins. Freedom was
almost in his grasp, and the future was growing rose-tinted and
rainbow-hued. All the ties which bound him to his home were as ropes of
sand, now that freedom had come so near.

When the army was afar off, he had appeared to be light-hearted and
content with his lot. If asked if he desired his freedom, he would have
answered, very naively, that he was eating his white bread and believed
in letting well enough alone; he had no intention of jumping from the
frying-pan into the fire. But in the depths of his soul the love of
freedom was an all-absorbing passion; only danger had taught him
caution. He had heard of terrible vengeance being heaped upon the heads
of some who had sought their freedom and failed in the attempt. Robert
knew that he might abandon hope if he incurred the wrath of men whose
overthrow was only a question of time. It would have been madness and
folly for him to have attempted an insurrection against slavery, with
the words of McClellan ringing in his ears: "If you rise I shall put you
down with an iron hand," and with the home guards ready to quench his
aspirations for freedom with bayonets and blood. What could a set of
unarmed and undisciplined men do against the fearful odds which beset
their path?

Robert waited eagerly and hopefully his chance to join the Union army;
and was ready and willing to do anything required of him by which he
could earn his freedom and prove his manhood. He conducted his plans
with the greatest secrecy. A few faithful and trusted friends stood
ready to desert with him when the Union army came within hailing
distance. When it came, there was a stampede to its ranks of men ready
to serve in any capacity, to labor in the tents, fight on the fields, or