22 AUDUBON THE NATURALIST. 



Judge's family, he was treated as one of ita 

 members. 



Through a strange coincidence, the very first 

 case met with by the Judge, on setting out for 

 the Circuit was that of the ''Commonwealth 

 versus Samuel Saunders, for unlawfully making 

 away with the indentured child, known as Will 

 Smith." Campbell, delighted with the idea of 

 retribution on the persecutors of his protege^ 

 whom he loved as a son, gave it his immediate 

 attention, and compelled minute investigation of 

 every particular of the affair. 



The trial was a singular and terrible scene. 

 Campbell, severe and implacable, sat like ano- 

 ther Bratus, resolved for the sentence. 



Mattie, too, the timid Mattie was present, pale, 

 heartsick, and agonized by conflicting feelings. 

 The novelty of her situation, and its publicity, 

 were sufficient alone to overwhelm her gentle 

 nature, in addition to which she had the misery 

 to witness her parent's disgrace, and was dis- 

 tracted by the conviction, that Willie, her sole 

 hope and only friend, was lost to her for ever. 

 Saunders, trembling and conscious, awaited the 

 verdict, which came as a death knell on his ears, 

 as in a solemn tone of denunciation '* guilty" 

 sounded through the unbroken hush of the 

 court. At that instant the sound of carriage 

 wheels told an arrival, and sent a murmuring 



