"I want very much to speak to you, sir, if you could spare me a
minute or two."

"Certainly," the sailor said with some surprise. "The train for
Petersburg does not go for another half hour. What can I do for
you?"

"My name is Vincent Wingfield. My father was an English
officer, and my mother is the owner of some large estates near
Richmond. I am most anxious to get a person in whom I am
interested on board ship, and I do not know how to set about it."

"There's no difficulty about that," the captain said smiling; "you
have only to go to an office and pay for his passage to where he
wants to go."

"I can't do that," Vincent replied; "for unfortunately it is against the
law for any captain to take him."

"You mean he is a negro?" the captain asked, stopping short in his
walk and looking sharply at Vincent.

"Yes, that is what I mean," Vincent said. "He is a negro who has
been brutally ill-treated and has run away from his master, and I
would willingly give five hundred dollars to get him safely away."

"This is a very serious business in which you are meddling, young
sir," the sailor said. "Putting aside the consequences to yourself,
you are asking me to break the law and to run the risk of the
confiscation of my ship. Even if I were willing to do what you