While he had not forgotten his little girl he was thinking that
Charleston people must be quite ready to take the serious step of urging
their State to declare her secession from the United States, and her
right to buy and sell human beings as slaves.
He wished that the United States officers at Fort Moultrie could realize
that at any time Charleston men might seize Fort Sumter, where there
were but few soldiers, and he said aloud: "I ought to warn them."
Sylvia wondered for a moment what her father could mean, but he said
quickly: "Jump down and put on your hat. I'm going to sail down to Fort
Moultrie and have a talk with my good friends there, and you can come
with me."
At this good news Sylvia forgot all her troubles. A sail across the
harbor with her father was the most delightful thing that she could
imagine. And she held fast to his hand, smiling happily, as they walked
down the wharf where the boat was fastened.
Mr. Fulton was beginning to find his position as a northern man in
Charleston rather uncomfortable. Many of his southern friends firmly
believed that the northern men had no right to tell them that slavery
was wrong and must cease. He wished to protect his business interests,
or he would have returned to Boston; for it was difficult for him not to
declare his own patriotic feeling that Abraham Lincoln, who had just
been elected President of the United States, would never permit slavery
to continue.
Mr. Fulton sent a darky with a message to Sylvia's mother that he was
taking the little girl for a sail to the forts, and in a short time they
were on board the Butterfly, as Sylvia had named the white sloop, and
were going swiftly down the harbor.
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