an anxious, frightened look.

Thomas would have gladly given him shelter and work, and given him just
wages, but he dared not do so. He was an American citizen it is true,
but at that time slavery reigned over the North and ruled over the
South, and he had not the power under the law of the land to give
domicile, and break his bread to that poor, hunted and flying man; for
even then they were hunting in the South and sending out their human
bloodhounds to search for him in the North.

Throughout the length and breadth of the land, from the summit of the
rainbow-crowned Niagara to the swollen waters of the Mexican Gulf; from
the golden gates of sunrise to the gorgeous portals of departing day,
there was not a hill so high, a forest so secluded, a glen so
sequestered, nor mountain so steep, that he knew he could not be tracked
and hailed in the name of the general government.

"What's the news, friend Carpenter? any new arrivals?" said Josiah
Collins in a low voice to Thomas.

"Yes, a very interesting case; can't you come over?"

"Yes, after breakfast. By the way, you must be a little more cautious
than usual. Charley came home last night, and brought a young friend
with him from college. I think from his conversation that he is either a
Southerner himself, or in deep sympathy with the South."

Both men spoke in low tones, for although they were Northerners, they
were talking about a subject on which they were compelled to speak with
bated breaths.