The old man made no sound. Douglass turned and saw him standing straight and slender in the morning light, a gentle breeze lifting his soft white hair, his wrinkled face carved against the sky. With a cry of utter woe Douglass threw himself upon the ground, encircling the slight frame in his arms. “Oh, John--John Brown--don’t go! You’ll be killed! It’s a trap! You’ll never get out alive--I beg you, don’t go! Don’t go!” Terrible sobs shook him; he could not stop. “Douglass! Douglass!” Brown took him by the shoulders, pressed his face against him, spoke as to a child. “For shame, Douglass! Everything will be all right.” Then, when he saw the big man was still, he added, “Come and go with me. You shall see that everything will be all right.” Douglass shook his head. He clung to the rough, gnarled hands. “This is the hardest part of all. I cannot throw my life away with you! Years ago in Maryland I knew I had to live. That’s _my_ task, John--that I live.” “You shall have a trusted bodyguard!” The old man looked down at him with a twisted smile. Douglass made a gesture of resignation. He raised his eyes once more. “Will nothing change you from this course?” he asked. “Nothing,” answered John Brown. He gently pulled himself away and walked to the edge of the cliff, looking out into the morning. Douglass sagged upon the ground. “You may be right, Frederick Douglass.” His words came slowly now. “Perhaps I’ll not succeed at Harper’s Ferry. Maybe--I’ll never leave there alive. Yet I must go! Until this moment I had never faced that possibility, and I could not give you up. Now that I do, I see that only through your living can my dying be made clear. So, let us have an end of all this talk. Perhaps this is God’s way.” Douglass pulled himself up. He was very tired. “I must tell Green,” he said. John Brown turned. His face was untroubled, his voice alert. “Yes. I had forgotten. Get him.” They came upon Shields Green and Kagi leaving the cave. Over their shoulders were fishing poles. Douglass spoke. “Shields, I am leaving. Are you going back with me?” John Brown spoke, the words coming easily, a simple explanation. “Both of you know that Douglass disagrees with my plan. He says we’ll fail at Harper’s Ferry--that none of us will come out alive.” He paused a moment and then said, “Maybe he is right.” Douglass waited, but still Shields Green only looked at him. At last he asked, “Well, Shields?” “The Emperor” shifted the fishing rod in his hand. Then his eyes turned toward John Brown. Douglass knew even before he spoke. Shields looked him full in the face and said, “Ah t’ink Ah goes wid tha old man!” And he and Kagi turned away and went off down to the stream. Brown held his hand a moment before speaking. “Go quickly now, and go without regrets. You have your job to do and I have mine.”