“I should like to establish a paper, a paper in which I can speak directly to my people, a paper that will prove whether or not a Negro has mind, the tongue of reason, and can present facts and arguments clearly.” They placed twenty-five hundred dollars in his hands--as a start toward this enterprise. “You will come back!” They made it both a question and an affirmation. “When we have won our fight!” He nodded. A crowd accompanied him to the boat at Liverpool and stood waving him goodbye. John Bright’s eyes were wet. “We’ll miss you, Douglass!” said the little spinner from Lancaster. The shores and wharves and people blurred as he stood on the deck. They had been so good. He reached in his pocket and once more took out the precious papers that declared him free. The transaction had to be in two parts. Thomas Auld first sold him to his brother Hugh, and then the Philadelphia lawyer had secured the final manumission paper through the Baltimore authorities. It was this second and final sheet that Frederick unfolded--the paper for which the people of England had paid seven hundred and fifty dollars. _To all whom it may concern_: Be it known, that I, Hugh Auld, of the city of Baltimore, in Baltimore county, in the state of Maryland, for divers good causes and considerations, me thereunto moving, have released from slavery, liberated, manumitted, and set free, and by these presents do hereby release from slavery, liberate, manumit, and set free, My Negro Man, named Frederick Bailey, otherwise called Douglass, being of the age of twenty-eight years, or thereabouts, and able to work and gain a sufficient livelihood and maintenance; and him the said negro man, named Frederick Bailey, otherwise called Frederick Douglass, I do declare to be henceforth free, manumitted, and discharged from all manner of servitude to me, my executors, and administrators forever. In witness whereof, I, the said Hugh Auld, have hereunto set my hand and seal, the fifth of December, in the year one thousand eight hundred and forty-six. _Signed_ HUGH AULD. _Sealed and delivered in presence of_ T. HANSON BELT.[8] He looked out across the waters. He had been away nearly two years. It was spring, and he was going home. CHAPTER TEN _A light is set on the road_ Massachusetts hung out her fairest garlands that spring. The fruit trees were in bloom. Dandelions a foot tall framed the winding roads in gold; across the meadows lay Queen Anne’s lace and white daisies; the lake shallows were covered with dark, green rushes; and alders, growing at the water’s edge, stood between white and yellow water-lilies. There was sweetness in the air.