chose to place beneath his care.  Mr. Tyson ascended the door-sill, and, for a moment, listened, if perchance he might hear the sounds of wo.  Suddenly a loud laugh broke upon his ears, which was soon lost in a chorus of laughter.  Indignant at the sound, he reached forth his hand and rapped with his whole might.  No answer was received.  He rapped again—­all was silence.  He then applied himself to the fastening of the door, and finding it unlocked, opened it and entered.  Suddenly four men made their appearance.  They had been carousing around a table which stood in the centre of a room, and when a little alarmed by the rapping at the door, they had gone in different directions to seize their weapons.  Mr. Tyson immediately recognised in the countenance of one of these, who appeared to be their leader, the slave-trader whose conduct had given rise to the suspicions that had brought him thither.  Nor was it many moments before the person and character of Mr. Tyson became known.

    “‘I understand,’ said he, ’that there are persons confined in
    this place entitled to their freedom?’

    “‘You have been wrongly informed,’ said the leader of the
    quartette; ‘and, besides, what business is it of yours?’

“‘Whether I am wrongly informed,’ said Mr. Tyson, calmly, ’can be soon made to appear; and I hold it my business, as it is the business of every good man in the community, to see that all doubts of this kind are settled!’

    “‘You shall advance no further,’ rejoined the leader, swearing a
    tremendous oath, and putting himself in a menacing attitude.

“With the rapidity of lightning, and with a strength that seemed to have been lent him for the occasion, Mr. Tyson broke through the arms of his opponent.  As he had been repeatedly at this house on similar errands, he knew the course he should steer, and made directly for the door of the dungeon.  There he met another of the band, with a candle in one hand, and in the other, a pistol, which, having cocked, he presented full against the breast of Mr. Tyson, swearing that he would shoot him if he advanced a step further.

    “‘Shoot if thee dare,’ said Mr. Tyson, in a voice of thunder,
    ’but thee dare not, coward as thou art, for well does thee know,
    that the gallows would be thy portion.’

“Whether it was the voice and countenance of Mr. Tyson, or the terror of the word gallows, that affected the miscreant, his arm suddenly fell, and he stood as if struck dumb with amazement.  Mr. Tyson taking advantage of the moment, in the twinkling of an eye, snatched the candle from the hand of the kidnapper, entered the dungeon door, which was providentially unlocked, and descended into the vault below.

“There he beheld a dismal sight; six poor creatures chained to each other by links connected with the prison wall!  The prisoners shrunk within themselves at the sight of a man, and