Page:John Brown (1899).pdf/117



Brown had not been back in Kansas long before he had a trail of fire behind him. He had grown a long white beard, which was, for a time at least, an effectual disguise. He went under the name of Shubel Morgan there, being still an outlaw, and immediately organized a company of fighting men. Disorder and reprisals had by no means ceased. Brown was soon very ill with fever, but for the most part kept the field. His letters show that his thoughts were on the Virginia expedition. Time hung a little heavily on his hands; and, when midwinter came, he made a slave-liberating foray into Missouri which was one of the most brilliant and theatrical exploits of his life.

It was toward the end of December when a negro man came over from Missouri, and told Brown that he, his wife, two children, and another negro man