The very fact that this was a Memphis boat we were on precluded any possibility that the crew would sympathize with a nigger-stealer.

Nor could I anticipate any assistance from without.

Steamboats were few and far between on these northern waters, and at this time, if the report of war was true, everything afloat would be headed up stream, laden with troops and provisions.

That the report was true I had no doubt.

The probability of an outbreak was known before I left Fort Armstrong; the crisis had come earlier than expected, that was all.
This, then, was the situation--through an odd intervention of Providence here we were all together on this steamer, which was steadily churning its way northward, every turn of the wheel bearing us deeper into the wilderness.