"Forbear! forbear!" I cried, my blood boiling with indignation. "Do not blaspheme the name of the Lord, by giving His word as a sanction for the murder, the dark, silent assassination of innocent girls and babes." "He sent me forth to destroy," said the man, in a gloomy but still a solemn tone. "He told me--He Himself, when, like him of old, I lay in a trance, but having my eyes open--when His visible presence was before me, and I heard His voice within my soul--He told me that Christ had laid down the yoke He had borne so long for me, and that I was to take it up--that Satan and the avenger were loosed, and that I was to go forth and destroy, sparing neither age nor sex of the oppressor. Even as He gave commands to the Israelites of old, so gave He commandment unto me, and the command was to destroy. I have obeyed it to the uttermost, although my heart often quivered when my hand struck firmly. Yet, when we had smitten root and branch in Stringer's house, last night, and I found that Bessy Davenport had escaped, I rejoiced, while all the others were furious, and I said, 'This is God's doing.' For she had been like an angel amongst the people--she had comforted, she had befriended us all. She had sat by my own mother on her death-bed, and had wiped the cold sweat from her brow, and held the cool drink to her lips, and spoke the words of comfort in her ears. She knew no difference between white and black then; and why should I know any difference now? Yet if I had found her, I would have killed her too, for it was God's command not to spare. But the Lord delivered her. It was His doing, and I was grateful." "Well, well," I cried, somewhat impatiently, "come to the point. It matters little to me what were your motives; they will be judged by yourself and others. All that I know is that you and your companions have murdered in cold blood women and children who could not wrong you." "Does not he who kills the serpent tread upon her eggs?" said the man, gloomily. "Do you suppose we would have another race of oppressors grow up when we could nip them in the bud? Even worldly policy would say 'No.' But what have I to do with worldly policy, when I Lave got God's command in my heart? Did He not tell me to destroy, to smite them hip and thigh, as soon as I saw the appointed sign in the heavens? When the sun was darkened at noon-day, I was to commence the work, and not to withdraw my hand until it was accomplished." "Foolish man!" I exclaimed; "that was only an eclipse, a thing that returns continually at fixed and certain periods by the mere movements of the earth and the moon. But, without argument, what have you to tell me? Give me the information you promised about Miss Davenport."