ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE.
SOLITARY MUSINGS.--PREPARATIONS FOR FLIGHT.--A LONG GOOD
NIGHT TO MASTER.--A DARK NIGHT ON THE RIVER.--NIGHT
JOURNEYS IN INDIANA.--ON THE BRINK OF STARVATION.--A KIND
WOMAN.--A NEW STYLE OF DRINKING CUP.--REACH CINCINNATI.
During the bright and hopeful days I spent in Ohio, while away on my
preaching tour, I had heard much of the course pursued by fugitives
from slavery, and became acquainted with a number of benevolent men
engaged in helping them on their way. Canada was often spoken of as
the only sure refuge from pursuit, and that blessed land was now the
desire of my longing heart. Infinite toils and perils lay between me
and that haven of promise; enough to daunt the stoutest heart; but
the fire behind me was too hot and fierce to let me pause to consider
them. I knew the North Star--blessed be God for setting it in the
heavens! Like the Star of Bethlehem, it announced where my salvation
lay. Could I follow it through forest, and stream, and field, it would
guide my feet in the way of hope. I thought of it as my God-given
guide to the land of promise far away beneath its light. I knew that
it had led thousands of my poor, hunted brethren to freedom and
blessedness. I felt energy enough in my own breast to contend with
privation and danger; and had I been a free, untrammeled man, knowing
no tie of father or husband, and concerned for my own safety only, I
would have felt all difficulties light in view of the hope that was
set before me. But, alas! I had a wife and four dear children; how
should I provide for them? Abandon them I could not; no! not even for
the blessed boon of freedom. They, too, must go. They, too, must share
with me the life of liberty.
It was not without long thought upon the subject that I devised a
plan of escape. But at last I matured it. My mind fully made up,
I communicated the intention to my wife. She was overwhelmed with
terror. With a woman's instinct she clung to hearth and home. She
knew nothing of the wide world beyond, and her imagination peopled it
with unseen horrors. We should die in the wilderness,--we should be
hunted down with blood-hounds,--we should be brought back and whipped
to death. With tears and supplications she besought me to remain at
home, contented. In vain I explained to her our liability to be torn
asunder at any moment; the horrors of the slavery I had lately seen;
the happiness we should enjoy together in a land of freedom, safe from
all pursuing harm. She had not suffered the bitterness of my lot,
nor felt the same longing for deliverance. She was a poor, ignorant,
unreasoning slave-woman.
I argued the matter with her at various times, till I was satisfied
that argument alone would not prevail. I then told her deliberately,
that though it would be a cruel trial for me to part with her, I would
nevertheless do it, and take all the children with me except the
youngest, rather than remain at home, only to be forcibly torn from
her, and sent down to linger out a wretched existence in the hell I
had lately visited. Again she wept and entreated, but I was sternly
resolute. The whole night long she fruitlessly urged me to relent;
exhausted and maddened, I left her, in the morning, to go to my work
for the day. Before I had gone far, I heard her voice calling me,
and waiting till I came up, she said, at last, she would go with me.
Blessed relief! my tears of joy flowed faster than had hers of grief.
Our cabin, at this time, was near the landing. The plantation itself
extended the whole five miles from the house to the river. There were
several distinct farms, all of which I was over-seeing, and therefore
I was riding about from one to another every day. Our oldest boy was
at the house with Master Amos; the rest of the children were with my
wife.
The chief practical difficulty that had weighed upon my mind, was
connected with the youngest two of the children. They were of three
and two years, respectively, and of course would have to be carried.
Both stout and healthy, they were a heavy burden, and my wife had
declared that I should break down under it before I had got five
miles from home. Sometime previously I had directed her to make me
a large knapsack of tow cloth, large enough to hold them both, and
arranged with strong straps to go round my shoulders. This done, I
had practised carrying them night after night, both to test my own
strength and accustom them to submit to it. To them it was fine fun,
and to my great joy I found I could manage them successfully. My
wife's consent was given on Thursday morning, and I resolved to start
on the night of the following Saturday. Sunday was a holiday; on
Monday and Tuesday I was to be away on farms distant from the house;
thus several days would elapse before I should be missed, and by that
time I should have got a good start.
At length the eventful night arrived. All things were ready, with the
single exception that I had not yet obtained my master's permission
for little Tom to visit his mother. About sundown I went up to the
great house to report my work, and after talking for a time, started
off, as usual, for home; when, suddenly appearing to recollect
something I had forgotten, I turned carelessly back, and said, "O,
Master Amos, I most forgot. Tom's mother wants to know if you won't
let him come down a few days; she wants to mend his clothes and fix
him up a little." "Yes, boy, yes; he can go." "Thankee, Master Amos;
good night, good night. The Lord bless you!" In spite of myself I
threw a good deal of emphasis into my farewell. I could not refrain
from an inward chuckle at the thought--how long a good night that will
be! The coast was all clear now, and, as I trudged along home, I took
an affectionate look at the well-known objects on my way. Strange to
say, sorrow mingled with my joy; but no man can live anywhere long
without feeling some attachment to the soil on which he labors.
It was about the middle of September, and by nine o'clock all was
ready. It was a dark, moonless night, when we got into the little
skiff, in which I had induced a fellow slave to set us across the
river. It was an anxious moment. We sat still as death. In the middle
of the stream the good fellow said to me, "It will be the end of me
if this is ever found out; but you won't be brought back alive, Sie,
will you?" "Not if I can help it," I replied; and I thought of the
pistols and knife I had bought some time before of a poor white. "And
if they're too many for you, and you get seized, you'll never tell
my part in this business?" "Not if I'm shot through like a sieve."
"That's all," said he, "and God help you." Heaven reward him. He, too,
has since followed in my steps; and many a time in a land of freedom
have we talked over that dark night on the river.
In due time we landed on the Indiana shore. A hearty, grateful
farewell, such as none but companions in danger can know, and I heard
the oars of the skiff propelling him home. There I stood in the
darkness, my dear ones with me, and the all unknown future before us.
But there was little time for reflection. Before daylight should come
on, we must put as many miles behind us as possible, and be safely
hidden in the woods. We had no friends to look to for assistance,
for the population in that section of the country was then bitterly
hostile to the fugitive. If discovered, we should be seized and lodged
in jail. In God was our only hope. Fervently did I pray to him as we
trudged on cautiously and steadily, and as fast as the darkness and
the feebleness of my wife and boys would allow. To her, indeed, I was
compelled to talk sternly; she trembled like a leaf, and even then
implored me to return.
For a fortnight we pressed steadily on, keeping to the road during the
night, hiding whenever a chance vehicle or horseman was heard, and
during the day burying ourselves in the woods. Our provisions were
rapidly giving out. Two days before reaching Cincinnati they were
utterly exhausted. All night long the children cried with hunger,
and my poor wife loaded me with reproaches for bringing them into
such misery. It was a bitter thing to hear them cry, and God knows
I needed encouragement myself. My limbs were weary, and my back and
shoulders raw with the burden I carried. A fearful dread of detection
ever pursued me, and I would start out of my sleep in terror, my heart
beating against my ribs, expecting to find the dogs and slave-hunters
after me. Had I been alone I would have borne starvation, even to
exhaustion, before I would have ventured in sight of a house in quest
of food. But now something must be done; it was necessary to run the
risk of exposure by daylight upon the road.
The only way to proceed was to adopt a bold course. Accordingly, I
left our hiding-place, took to the road, and turned towards the south,
to lull any suspicion that might be aroused were I to be seen going
the other way. Before long I came to a house. A furious dog rushed out
at me, and his master following to quiet him, I asked if he would
sell me a little bread and meat. He was a surly fellow. "No, he had
nothing for niggers!" At the next I succeeded no better, at first. The
man of the house met me in the same style; but his wife, hearing our
conversation, said to her husband, "How can you treat any human being
so? If a dog was hungry I would give him something to eat." She then
added, "We have children, and who knows but they may some day need the
help of a friend." The man laughed, and told her that she might take
care of niggers, he wouldn't. She asked me to come in, loaded a plate
with venison and bread, and, when I laid it into my handkerchief, and
put a quarter of a dollar on the table, she quietly took it up and put
it in my handkerchief, with an additional quantity of venison. I felt
the hot tears roll down my cheeks as she said "God bless you;" and I
hurried away to bless my starving wife and little ones.
A little while after eating the venison, which was quite salt, the
children become very thirsty, and groaned and sighed so that I went
off stealthily, breaking the bushes to keep my path, to find water. I
found a little rill, and drank a large draught. Then I tried to carry
some in my hat; but, alas! it leaked. Finally, I took off both shoes,
which luckily had no holes in them, rinsed them out, filled them with
water, and carried it to my family. They drank it with great delight.
I have since then sat at splendidly furnished tables in Canada, the
United States, and England; but never did I see any human beings
relish anything more than my poor famishing little ones did that
refreshing draught out of their father's shoes. That night we made a
long run, and two days afterward we reached Cincinnati.