The captain was all ready, and provided he could get three passengers at $100 each he would set sail without much other freight.  Of course he was too shrewd to get out papers for Philadelphia.  That would betray him at once.  Washington or Baltimore, or even Wilmington, Del., were names which stood fair in the eyes of Virginia.  Consequently, being able to pack the fugitives away in a very private hole of his boat, and being only bound for a Southern port, the captain was willing to risk his share of the danger.  “Very well,” said Robert, “to-day I will please my master so well, that I will catch him at an unguarded moment, and will ask him for a pass to go to a ball to-night (slave-holders love to see their slaves fiddling and dancing of nights), and as I shall be leaving in a hurry, I will take a grab from the day’s sale, and when Slater hears of me again, I will be in Canada.”  So after having attended to all his disagreeable duties, he made his “grab,” and got a hand full.  He did not know, however, how it would hold out.  That evening, instead of participating with the gay dancers, he was just one degree lower down than the regular bottom of Captain B’s. deck, with several hundred dollars in his pocket, after paying the worthy captain one hundred each for himself and his brother, besides making the captain an additional present of nearly one hundred.  Wind and tide were now what they prayed for to speed on the U.G.R.R. schooner, until they might reach the depot at Philadelphia.

The Richmond Dispatch, an enterprising paper in the interest of slaveholders, which came daily to the Committee, was received in advance of the passengers, when lo! and behold, in turning to the interesting column containing the elegant illustrations of “runaway negroes,” it was seen that the unfortunate Slater had “lost $1500 in North Carolina money, and also his dark orange-colored, intelligent, and good-looking turnkey, Bob.”  “Served him right, it is no stealing for one piece of property to go off with another piece,” reasoned a member of the Committee.

In a couple of days after the Dispatch brought the news, the three U.G.R.R. passengers were safely landed at the usual place, and so accurate were the descriptions in the paper, that, on first seeing them, the Committee recognized them instantly, and, without any previous ceremonies, read to them the advertisement relative to the “$1500 in N.C. money, &c.,” and put the question to them direct:  “Are you the ones?” “We are,” they owned up without hesitation.  The Committee did not see a dollar of their money, but understood they had about $900, after paying the captain; while Bob considered he made a “very good grab,” he did not admit that the amount advertised was correct.  After a reasonable time for recruiting, having been so long in the hole of the vessel, they took their departure for Canada.

From Joseph, the elder brother, is appended a short letter, announcing their arrival and condition under the British Lion—­