a vice, then we'll see 'em squirm. Our plans are all fixed."
This defiant speech of one of the cotton lords was followed by a roar of exultant laughter, and a knowing shake of the head of one of the lower class as he called out to a craven looking huckster standing in the door,
"You worked the card slick James when you got your niggar wench from the North, and there wan't no outcry about it nuther that ever I heered on, shows how much they care for the nigger arter all. That was right hard on you when she run away, bein' the only one you ever owned, you might a' raised a right smart stock from her, and she never was wuth nothin' to ye arterwards."
Walter was on the point of asking a question or two here, but the landlord managed to draw him one side and besought him to leave as soon as he could or they would both get into trouble. He had been witness of too many such altercations to be unmindful of their results. Walter had no desire to stop longer among such society and he hastened away disgusted and disheartened by what ho had seen and heard in the heart of the nation. It so happened that before he left the precincts of slave-dom, he was the witness of another auction. This was a more private sale, being the bankrupt stock of an individual lately deceased. He was an unusually indulgent master, and the grief and lamentation of the slaves as they were put up was heart-rending. Here was a favorite slave woman, nearly white, who was born
