"The entire group of men seated around the table stared at the messenger in shock. It took Sid a moment to recover while his mind struggled to come to...grips with the news that a force that size was headed their way. During the months of fighting, they had tackled forces up to three thousand. He calculated that they had already dealt with close to fifteen thousand enemy troops. Turning to Connor, he said, "Sent out scouts to the south and west. We've got to make sure that there aren't any other. ...” The girl was insane and I was rapidly being driven insane. Good job I had dropped a massive load not long ago or else that would have been very short lived indeed. She then started grunting, barely audibly, “Loving…” as she dragged her self upwards and then as the base line thumped in she slammed herself down as she yelped “…it”. Over and over again: Up: “Loving…”; Down: “…it”. Up: “Loving…”; Down: “…it”. Up: “Loving…”; Down: “…it”. By now I was grunting too with the effort and. The Ability. Now, this might hurt&hellip, Conner watched the Stranger reach out and grab his shoulder. After that he fell to his hands and knees, the pain in his head and gut so horrible that he could not think or move. It felt like fire burning in his insides&hellip, then it was gone. He stood and felt the head rush as he looked in fear and awe at the Stranger. That awful smile, and then&hellip, gone. Conner heard the voice of the man in the coat echoing in his mind, his muddled thoughts. This conference reminded me of that earlier gathering I had attended many years ago, with my friend George, when we were both college students. That was the one where the very idea that slavery could be made "kinder and gentler" was first publicly proposed and became the basis for a concerted campaign to persuade the public.The speaker before me had gone on at great length about all the legislation that had been passed to implement the concept. Slave owners today had accepted that they were.