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 improbably.
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 as 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 bridge, they beheld three men slowly approaching from the Virginia side.
They immediately called to them to arrest the fugitive, proclaiming her
a runaway slave. True to their Virginia instincts, as she came near,
they formed a line across the narrow bridge to intercept her.
Seeing the escape was impossible in that quarter, she stopped suddenly,
and turned upon her pursuers.

On came the profane and ribald crew faster than ever, already exulting