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 protegé, 
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 Brutus, 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, 
asin 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 
