Home Again 
time, my wife told me that she was much dis¬ 
turbed when I did not return the first night, but 
hoped that I had been detained to help Vaughn 
get his property home. When I did not appear 
at noon the next day, she persuaded two other 
Liberians named Barbour and Smith that were in 
the country and happened to be at that time 
temporarily sojourning in town, to go in search 
of me. These men were full-blooded Africans 
who had fallen from a state of civilization to the 
level of the heathen; but, while they were 
desperadoes, they still possessed many excellent 
traits of character. From pure sympathy, they 
agreed to go in search of me, notwithstanding 
their knowledge of the people made them realize 
what extreme peril would attend the undertak¬ 
ing. Fully armed, they set out about noon to go 
to the shanty of Vaughn. Impatient from sus¬ 
pense, my wife attended by her native maid, 
followed the road some distance from the town, 
still hoping to meet me, until the setting sun 
compelled her to return to her darkened home. 
About midnight, she heard the men talking in 
a low tone in the piazza and knew by this that 
they were hesitating from sympathy to tell her 
what they had learned. She then swooned and re¬ 
mained very ill until Sunday, believing all this 
165 
