“Mr. Tyson, it is remarkable, would always turn his eyes from these manifestations.  He would listen to no declarations of thanks.  When these were strongly pressed upon him, he would usually exclaim, ’Well, that will do now; that is enough for this time.’  And once when one of these creatures, fearful that Mr. Tyson would not consider him sufficiently grateful, cried out, ’Indeed, master, I am very thankful, I would die to serve you,’ Mr. Tyson exclaimed, ’Why, man, I have only done my duty; I don’t want thy thanks;’ and turned abruptly away.

“Equalled only by the delight of the rescued victims, was the chagrin and vexation of the slave-traders, when they saw their prey torn from their grasp.  They cursed the law; they cursed its ministers; but above all, they invoked imprecations upon the head of Tyson.

“They swore that they would murder him, that they would fire his dwelling over his head, that they would do a thousand things, all full of vengeance.  None of these threats were ever put into execution; for though a plot was once laid to take away his life, fear dispersed the actors long before the day of performance.  Thus does it always happen that the wickedest of men are also the meanest, and therefore the most dastardly.  And thus did the cowardice of Mr. Tyson’s enemies shield him from the effects of their enmity.  Nor did he profit less by that individual fear of him which these slave-traders were made to feel.  They feared him because they deprecated his hostility.  In order, if possible, to lessen this hostility, they frequently became informers on others engaged in the same traffic.  This they were further inclined to do, in consequence of the jealousy that subsisted between them—­a jealousy very natural to competitors in the same line of business.  It was always a time of exultation with them when one of their number found his way into the penitentiary.

“It sometimes happened that Mr. Tyson extracted from the mouths of these monsters, evidence which afterwards went to criminate those who had uttered it.  It was usual with him when he could not obtain testimony against a suspected person, to send for such person and interrogate him.  No one refused his summons—­fear forbade the refusal; and after they had come, the very fear which brought them there sacrificed them to injured humanity.  Sometimes those who came voluntarily for the purpose of criminating others, involved themselves in toils of their own weaving; where they were no sooner seen, by the penetrating eye of Tyson, than he reached forth his hands and secured his astonished prisoner, before he had a suspicion of his danger.

“Mr. Tyson’s knowledge of the sort of people with whom he had principally to deal was perfect.  His quickness of perception and self-command were also remarkable.  These qualifications gave him an extraordinary power