"No, sir!" the old black answered quickly, as he stood up straight. "We
are subjects of the State of Pennsylvania, and citizens of free
America!"

"My friends," replied Captain Hull, "believe me that you have not
compromised your liberty in coming on board of the American brig, the
'Pilgrim.'"

In fact, the five blacks which the "Waldeck" carried belonged to the
State of Pennsylvania. The oldest, sold in Africa as a slave at the age
of six years, then brought to the United States, had been freed already
many years ago by the Emancipation Proclamation. As to his companions,
much younger than he, sons of slaves liberated before their birth, they
were born free; no white had ever had the right of property over them.
They did not even speak that "negro" language, which does not use the
article, and only knows the infinitive of the verbs--a language which
has disappeared little by little, indeed, since the anti-slavery war.
These blacks had, then, freely left the United States, and they were
returning to it freely.

As they told Captain Hull, they were engaged as laborers at an
Englishman's who owned a vast mine near Melbourne, in Southern
Australia. There they had passed three years, with great profit to
themselves; their engagement ended, they had wished to return to
America.

They then had embarked on the "Waldeck," paying their passage like
ordinary passengers. On the 5th of December they left Melbourne, and
seventeen days after, during a very black night, the "Waldeck" had been
struck by a large steamer.