“It was nothing, a mere scratch.” Douglass shrugged away the incident. “And how are you, my good friend? Something important brings you here.” “Let him eat his breakfast first,” begged the wife. Afterward Douglass read the letter from Kansas. “Perhaps God directs me to Kansas,” said Brown earnestly. “Perhaps my path to Virginia lies through Kansas. What do you think?” Douglass shook his head. “I do not know.” He was silent a moment, then his eyes lighted. “I’m leaving tomorrow for our convention in Syracuse. Come with me. Lay this letter from Kansas before all the Abolitionists. You’ll need money. Kansas is our concern.” A few days later John Brown wrote his wife: DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN: I reached here on the first day of the convention, and I have reason to bless God that I came; for I have met with a most warm reception from all, so far as I know, and--except by a few sincere, honest, peace Friends--a most hearty approval of my intention of arming my sons and other friends in Kansas. I received today donations amounting to a little over sixty dollars--twenty from Gerrit Smith, five from an old British officer; others giving smaller sums with such earnest and affectionate expression of their good wishes as did me more good than money even. John’s two letters were introduced, and read with such effect by Gerrit Smith as to draw tears from numerous eyes in the great collection of people present. The convention has been one of the most interesting meetings I ever attended in my life; and I made a great addition to the number of warm-hearted and honest friends. The die was cast: John Brown left for Kansas. Instead of sending the money and arms, says his son John, “he came on with them himself, accompanied by his brother-in-law, Henry Thompson, and my brother Oliver. In Iowa he bought a horse and covered wagon; concealing the arms in this and conspicuously displaying his surveying implements, he crossed into Missouri near Waverly, and at that place disinterred the body of his grandson, and brought all safely through to our settlement, arriving there about the 6th of October, 1855.[14]” CHAPTER TWELVE _An Avenging Angel brings the fury of the storm_ “Did you go out under the auspices of the Emigrant Aid Society?” they asked John Brown at the trial four years after. “No, sir,” he answered grimly, “I went out under the auspices of John Brown, directed by God.” * * * * * The settlement was a romantic place. Red men gliding by in their swift canoes had seen stately birds in the reedy lowlands of eastern Kansas and called the marsh the “swamp of the swan.” Here, on the good lands that rose up from the dark sluggish rivers, John Brown and his youngest son, Oliver, drove into the Brown colony.