Page:The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive.djvu/210

 sixty and seventy men of us; the night had been cloudy and without a moon; and the patrol had only caught some hasty and uncertain glimpses of the person whom they had followed. The court seemed rather vexed at their hesitation. Yet perhaps it was not very unreasonable; since they were quite unable to agree together as to what sort of a man it was. One thought him short; the other was certain that he was quite tall. The first, pronounced him a stout, well-set fellow; the other had taken him to be very slender.

By this time, the first bottle of whiskey was emptied. and a second was put upon the table. The court now told the witnesses that it would not do; they did not come up to the mark at all; and if they went on at that rate, the fellow would escape altogether. Just at this moment, the overseer of the plantation which had been plundered, rode up; and as soon as he had dismounted, he stepped forward to the relief of the witnesses. He said, that while the court was organizing, he had taken the opportunity, to ride over and examine the rice-field, in which the rogue had been started up. It was much trampled in places, and there were a great many foot-prints; but they were all just alike, and seemed to have been made by the same person. He took a little stick from his pocket, on which, he said, he had carefully marked their exact length and breadth.

Now this was a trick for detecting people, which Thomas understood very well; and he had taken good care to be prepared for it. Our whole company were provided with shoes of the largest size we could get, and all exactly of the same pattern; so that our tracks had the appearance of being made by a single person, and he a fellow with a very large foot.

This speech of the overseer seemed to revive the drooping hopes of the judges; and they made us all sit down upon the ground and have our feet measured. There was aman on the plantation named Billy, a harmless, stupid fellow, wholly unconnected with us; but unluckily for him, the only one of all the slaves whose foot corresponded at all with the measure. The length of this poor fellow's foot was fatal to him. The judges shouted with one voice,