On November 30, 1782, preliminary articles of peace were signed at Paris. Savannah was evacuated by the British in July of 1783; New York in November; but Charleston did not see the last of the enemy until December. Upon the 14th of that month the American columns entered the city, and those of the enemy retired to their ships. Tom Deering, his father, Uncle Dick and Cole were among the first to enter; and they sped as fast as their horses could carry them to the Deering place. The slaves received them with joy, and soon everything was placed in order. Not long afterward Laura was brought back by Uncle Dick in the Defence; and one of the first things which Mr. Deering did, after his four thousand pounds had been recovered from the old well, was to see that the papers declaring Cole a free man were made out. It was in vain that Cole protested, “I don’t want to be a free nigger,” signaled he, complainingly, to Tom. “I want to live here on this plantation.” Tom patted the giant negro’s great shoulder. “It would be the most unhappy day of my life, Cole, to see you leave the plantation,” said he. “But after what you have done, we can’t hold you in slavery. You must be a free man--as free, as completely at liberty as our country.” THE END TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. Superscripted characters are preceded by a carat character: M^cIntyre. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original.