Now that he was about to
get married, the excuse of the mortgage was the best pretext in
the world to get rid of her.
The Captain turned from the scene with feelings that left deep
impressions upon his mind, and that afternoon took his departure for
his Scottish home.
Time passed heavily at the jail, and day after day Manuel awaited
his fate with anxiety. At every tap of the prison-bell he would
spring to the door and listen, asserting that he heard the consul's
voice in every passing sound. Day after day the consul would call
upon him and quiet his fears, reassuring him that he was safe and
should not be sold as a slave. At length, on the seventeenth day of
May, after nearly two months' imprisonment, the glad news was
received that Manuel Pereira was not to be sold, according to the
statutes, but to be released upon payment of all costs, &c. &c., and
immediately sent beyond the limits of the State. We leave it to the
reader's fancy, to picture the scene of joy on the reception of the
news in the "stewards' cell."
The consul lost no time in arranging his affairs for him, and at
five o'clock on the afternoon of the 17th of May, 1852, Manuel
Pereira, a poor, shipwrecked mariner, who, by the dispensation of an
all-wise Providence, was cast upon the shores of South Carolina, and
imprisoned because hospitality to him was "contrary to law," was led
forth, pale and emaciated, by two constables, thrust into a closely
covered vehicle, and driven at full speed to the steamboat then
awaiting to depart for New York.
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