They discussed general plans for an aggressive attack upon the South for the liberation of the slaves, and with these plans the needs of Kansas had little or no connection.

"Kansas was to be a prologue to the real drama," writes his latest biographer; "the properties of the one were to serve in the other." In April six months' salary was advanced out of the Kansas fund to Forbes, who was employed at a hundred dollars a month to aid in the execution of their plans.

Another significant expenditure of the Kansas fund was in pursuance of a contract with a Mr.Blair, a Connecticut manufacturer, to furnish at a dollar each one thousand pikes.

Though the contract was dated March 80, 1857, it was not completed until the fall of 1859, when the weapons were delivered to Brown in Pennsylvania for use at Harper's Ferry.
Instead of rushing to the relief of Kansas, as contributors had expected, the leader exercised remarkable deliberation.

When August arrived, it found him only as far as Tabor, Iowa, where a considerable quantity of arms had been previously assembled.