undertaken, and its possible consequences. Haines' words had driven it
home to my mind, causing me to comprehend the viewpoint of this
neighborhood, the hatred men felt for a nigger-stealer, and what my
fate would be if once caught in the act. Yet the die was already cast;
I had pledged myself to action; was fully committed to the attempted
rescue of Rene Beaucaire, and no thought of any retreat once occurred
to me. I opened the door cautiously, glancing out into the night, to
thus assure myself we were alone, closed it again, and came back. The
negro still remained seated on the edge of the bed, digging his toes
into the hard earth of the floor.

"Pete," I began earnestly. "You trust me, don't you? You do not
suspect me of being any slave-hunter?"

"No, sah, Massa Knox, I ain't 'feared o' yer--yers one o' dem
down-easterners."

"Well, not exactly that. I came from a slave state, but my family is
of New England blood and breeding. I am just as much your friend as
though you were white. Now you and I have got a hard job before us."

"Yas, sah, we sure has."

"And the first thing we have got to do, is to trust each other. Now I
am going to ask you a question--is that the best way for us to go, up
the Illinois?"

He was slow to answer, evidently turning the whole matter over in his
mind. I waited impatiently, feeling the delay to be a serious loss of
time.