Page:The Under-Ground Railroad.djvu/68

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48

with food as requested, in a house detached from his own dwelling; feeling assured that they were safe, they partook of their meals with great pleasure; hope began to revive, aud their hearts filled with joy. But, alas! in one short hour, their hopes were blasted. Joy was turned into sorrow, peace into confusion. The farmer had betrayed them; eleven men came with him to capture them. They were betrayed into the hands of wicked men. Escape was out of the question. The child seemed conscious of its danger, which it manifested by screams and holding on to its mother's tattered rags. Poor woman! unable to protect herself, and no law to secure the freedom of fugitives in the United States,—the cries of the Slave-Mother's child have gone up to heaven against their oppressors. The husband placed himself at the door, but soon fell back on the floor helpless. The wife took his place, and, more successful than he, she felled three men to the ground. But, alas! resistance was vain. Overcome, she seized the knife with which she had been eating her food; resolute as Death seizes his victims; intoxicated with madness,— "oppression makes a wise man mad,"—she placed her hand on the head of the innocent child, saying, "It was for your sake I started for Canada, I would rather see you dead than go back to Slavery," so, suiting the action to the expression she cut its throat, and immediately surrendered.