To find one's self sold into slavery must be a thoroughly unpleasant
experience; yet when George Leicester that night found himself actually
a slave, the tenant of a slave-cabin, and with slaves only for his
future companions and associates, he felt by no means discouraged.
There was no oppressive feeling of despair weighing down his heart and
crushing his spirit into utter hopelessness; on the contrary, he had the
feeling as if a great load of care and anxiety had been lifted from off
his heart; he now knew the worst of what was to befall him; he fully
recognised that the life before him was to be one of unrequited hardship
at least, and, it might be, also of suffering and bitter tyranny; but he
braced himself to meet it all, whatever it might be, with unflinching
fortitude, sustained by the steadfast, inextinguishable hope of eventual
escape.
This hope indeed of eventual escape rose high within his breast, now
that he had actually arrived upon the spot from which it must be made.
The estate of which he was now one of the chattels was that of a tobacco
and sugar planter. Of its extent he could at present form no opinion;
but he saw that it was of considerable size, the whole of the cultivated
ground within sight being the property of his owner. It was situated
upon a tolerably level plain, with a road running through it, from the
main road along which they had recently travelled, up to the planter's
house, a wide straggling stone structure, with a thatched roof and a
verandah all round, occupying the summit of a slight eminence nearly in
the middle of the estate. Behind the house, at a distance of some
twenty yards, stood another building, which George rightly guessed to be
the stables; the slave-huts, of which there were thirty-four, were
built, at a distance of about a quarter of a mile from the house, on a
gentle slope, at the foot of which stood the boiling-house and
sugar-mill, the store-houses, the tobacco factory, etcetera; and just
beyond them, again, ran a tiny sparkling stream, from which was obtained
the power for driving the crushing machinery.
The slave-cabins were wholly unenclosed, and George had not failed to
notice on his arrival upon the estate that, though it was certainly
fenced in, the fencing consisted of nothing more than a common rough
post-and-rail fence, evidently intended merely to keep out cattle, and
in his innocence he began to think that escape from such a place would
prove a very easy matter, after all. "What, indeed," he asked himself,
"was to prevent his rising from his bed upon the very first favourable
night which should arrive, and quietly walking off the estate?" What,
indeed?
But escape was far too precious a thing to be risked by being undertaken
in ignorance of whatever perils might attend the attempt, so he resolved
that for the present he would not attempt to frame any plans whatever;
he felt pretty certain that, as a new acquisition, he would be closely
watched for some time to come by those who might have the more immediate
charge of him, and his first task, he told himself, must be to disarm
any suspicion which might exist in their minds as to an intention on his
part to escape. The time necessary to the accomplishment of this might
also be profitably employed in acquiring a knowledge of Spanish, without
which he fully realised that his attempt must inevitably fail; and he
believed that, by the time he had thus paved the way for the great
attempt, his ingenuity would have proved sufficient to gain without
suspicion from his fellow-slaves a tolerably accurate idea of the perils
and difficulties with which he would have to contend.
He took the lad Tom into his confidence at once, intending, of course,
that the poor boy should, if he were willing to incur the risk, go with
him and Walford, and share with them at least the _chance_ of freedom;
and so, from the very first day of their thraldom, there were two keen,
intelligent brains incessantly at work, diligently clearing the way to
recovered liberty. To Walford George said nothing whatever of his
purpose; the unfortunate wretch could not possibly aid them, and there
was the possibility that he _might_ unwittingly betray them.
At six o'clock next morning the great bell at the engine-house rang,
this being the signal for the slaves to turn out and get breakfast.
Half an hour was allowed for this, and at half-past six they were formed
into gangs, and marched off to the fields in charge of the overseers.
George and Walford were handed a hoe apiece, and attached to one of the
gangs detailed for work in the tobacco-fields. The lad Tom was attached
to another gang, and he spent his first day of slave-labour among the
sugar-cane.
The tobacco was fast ripening, and was just then at one of its many
critical stages, the plants requiring individually almost as much care
and attention as a new-born child. Each plant required that the earth
should be hoed up round its stalk with almost mathematical accuracy to a
certain height and no more; and every leaf had to be tenderly and
scrupulously examined twice or thrice daily, to guard against the
ruinous attack of the tobacco-grubs. It was exhausting, back-breaking
labour, particularly for those unaccustomed to it, and the drivers'
whips were freely used to stimulate the sluggards or those who exhibited
any signs of a _tendency_ to shirk the work; but George soon saw--and
congratulated himself upon the circumstance--that the rule was evidently
a mild one on this particular plantation, the whip being rarely used
without provocation. It is scarcely necessary to say that Leicester was
quite resolved to save himself from the indignity of the lash, if hard
work would do it; and he was fortunate enough to return to his hut on
that first day without the whip having once been raised against him.
Thus passed day after day, and week after week; the only variation being
that, when the tobacco was in proper condition, the fields had to be
gone through with the utmost care, and those leaves which were
sufficiently ripe were then picked, and laid in little heaps in the sun
to "sweat" and cure, this process being repeated daily until the entire
crop was gathered in. Then followed the "cleaning" of the fields and
their preparation for another crop, and so on, upon all of which it is
unnecessary to dwell.
George and Tom devoted the whole of their brief leisure after the work
of the day was over to the cultivation of a knowledge of Spanish, being
fortunate enough, in their pursuit of this acquirement, to make the
acquaintance of a young and very intelligent negro, who had been for
many years valet to his master, but, being unlucky enough to incur that
gentleman's displeasure, had been sent in disgrace into the field-gang.
With him as a tutor their progress was rapid, and in little over six
months they were able to converse in Spanish with tolerable fluency.
When at length George found that he was fairly master of the language,
he began cautiously to touch on the subject of escape, a topic upon
which Pedro, his tutor, was luckily always ready to enlarge. This
gentleman, regarding himself as an injured individual, was always
threatening--among his fellow-slaves, of course--to run away; and George
was once on the point of declaring to the fellow his own intention of
doing the same thing, but luckily his discretion stepped in and
prevented his committing so great an imprudence, the reflection
occurring to him just in time, that a man who _talked_ so much about the
matter was, after all, very unlikely to _act_ to any purpose.
One night, however, Pedro entered George's cabin, looking very gloomy
and sulky; and, flinging himself down on a stool, he announced that he
had called to say farewell, as he was fully determined not to submit any
longer to such base treatment.
"Why, what has happened now, Pedro?" exclaimed George, when he heard
this announcement.
"I will tell you, friend George," answered Pedro. "You may possibly
have observed that miserable piece of insolence called Juan, who has
been promoted to the post from which I was so unjustly expelled? Well,
this wretched ape must needs send--_send_, mind you, not come down and
himself ask, but _send_--for a man to move some furniture up at the
house there. I have no doubt he specially named _me_, as I was ordered
to go; and I--I refused; I declined to be subjected to such an
indignity, and for this I was at once flogged. I have been humiliated,
disgraced, dishonoured, and I am resolved not to bear it any longer; I
shall fly to-night."
"Well," said George, "I hope you will get off clear; I see no reason why
you should not."
"You do not?" exclaimed Pedro. "Ah! my good friend, that is because you
are new to this wretched country. Are you not aware, then, that the
master keeps quite a pack of bloodhounds for the purpose of hunting
runaway slaves, and that these bloodhounds are turned loose every night
to scour the estate? They have been trained to watch over us and
prevent our escape. If I should happen to encounter one to-night, I
shall be compelled to abandon the attempt; for he will follow me about,
and, should I attempt to pass the fencing, spring upon and hold me until
his baying brings the overseers to the spot. Have you never encountered
any of these fiends of dogs?"
"Never," answered George, his heart sinking at the startling news.
"This is the first I have heard of them. Then is it quite impossible to
walk about the estate at night without being pounced upon by a
bloodhound?"
"Oh, dear no," was the reply. "They are so trained that they will not
molest you so long as you keep within the boundaries of the estate; but
they will watch and follow you until you return to your cabin. And, of
course, as there is only a dozen of the dogs in all, you _may_ perchance
get away without encountering one of them. But if you do, your
prospects of escape are still small, for you would be missed in the
morning, the dogs would at once be put upon your track, and a regular
slave-hunt would then begin. A slave-hunt is rare sport, I promise
you--for everybody but the slave."
"Then it seems," remarked George, "that, even in the event of your
getting clear of the estate, you have very little hope of escape, after
all?"
"None," was the reply, "none whatever--unless you happen to possess a
certain secret, the secret of _hiding the scent_, so that the dogs
cannot follow your trail. Then, indeed, you _may_ hope to escape, but
not otherwise. _I_ am fortunate enough to possess this secret, and as
we have been good friends--you and I--I do not mind letting you into
it--provided that if you make one in the hunt to-morrow--they take
slaves to help sometimes--you will aid my escape in any way you can."
"Agreed!" exclaimed George joyously. "In any case I would do that.
Still, the secret is a valuable one, and I should like to be made
acquainted with it."
"You shall, _amigo_," said Pedro. And, placing his hand inside the
bosom of his shirt, he produced a handful of leaves.
"Do you see these?" he asked.
George intimated that he did.
"Take particular notice of them, so that you may recognise them again
with certainty whenever you see them," urged Pedro. "Note their shape,
their exact colour; note their peculiar odour; and, above all, note
their taste; for there are other plants, quite worthless for the
purpose, closely resembling this one; but the _taste_ will at once tell
you when you have found the right one."
George eagerly took a quantity of the leaves in his hand, and carefully
examined them, noting that, though they varied in size, they were all of
exactly the same shape and hue; then he held them to his nostrils and
inhaled their odour until he thought he had become fully acquainted with
it. And finally he put one in his mouth, and masticated it. The juice
had a very peculiar flavour indeed, so peculiar that he felt sure he
should never forget it.
"And how do you use these leaves?" asked George.
"If," answered Pedro, "you have an opportunity to gather them only a few
hours before you wish to use them, so that they are perfectly fresh, all
that you have to do is to bruise and crush them, so that their juice
shall be free to escape, and then rub them well all over your feet.
This imparts the odour of the plant to the skin, and so `hides the
scent' that the dogs are quite unable to follow it. But if the leaves
have been gathered so long that they have become dry, you must put them
in water to soak until they become soft once more; then first wash your
feet in the water, and afterwards rub them thoroughly with the leaves.
Only, in the latter case, you will require a much larger quantity of
leaves."
"Thanks, Pedro, I shall remember that," answered George. "One more
question, and I have done. Where is this plant to be found?"
"Ah! now you have given me a puzzle," exclaimed the black. "The plant
is very scarce, and is growing daily more so, for the reason that the
slave-owners carefully root it up and destroy it wherever they find it.
They are fully acquainted with its peculiar properties, they know that
it has freed many a persecuted slave from the bondage of a cruel and
tyrannical master, and that, if allowed to flourish, it would free many
more; so it is carefully sought out, and ruthlessly dug up when found.
Notwithstanding which, a plant is to be found here and there by
diligently searching after it. It grows generally in wet or marshy
ground, and in such spots you will have to seek for it, if ever you need
it. Now, I must go; it is close upon the time for the head overseer to
go his rounds, and I want him to see me in my own cabin. As soon as he
is once more fairly out of the way I shall be off. Good-night--and
good-bye."
"Good-bye," answered George, grasping the negro's proffered hand;
"good-bye, and thank you for your valuable secret. I heartily wish you
good luck; and if they get up a hunt, and take me to help, I'll do what
I can to throw them off the scent. Which way do you go?"
"You had better know nothing about that," answered Pedro cautiously.
"All I ask is, that if you catch sight of me, or observe any sign of my
having passed, you will simply keep quiet about it. And now, once more,
good-bye."
Ten minutes later the head overseer, going his rounds, on looking into
Pedro's cabin, found that individual apparently fast asleep on the
floor, with his back against the wall, and such an utterly fagged,
worn-out look pervading his entire personality that the man was almost
betrayed into a momentary feeling of pity for "the poor boy."
His surprise was therefore proportionally great when, on the following
morning, it became apparent that Pedro had succeeded, in spite of the
dogs, in making good his escape from the estate.
A slave-hunt was at once organised, and about nine o'clock, as George
was hard at work in the fields, he saw the hunters--some half a dozen in
number, mounted, and accompanied each by a bloodhound--pass down the
main road through the estate and out on to the open ground beyond. Here
the party divided, half going in one direction, and half in the other,
to encircle the estate, and endeavour to pick up the trail. They were
absent the whole day, but when they returned at about midnight, the
unfortunate Pedro was with them, handcuffed, and secured by a rope round
his neck to the saddle of one of the horsemen. It afterwards transpired
that he had been perfectly successful, not only in evading the dogs
during his actual escape from the estate, but also in "hiding the scent"
from them; and his capture was due to the unfortunate circumstance of
his having been met by a friend of his master's who, an hour afterwards,
encountered the party in pursuit of him, and so put them upon his track.
Next morning the unhappy wretch was "made an example of," by being
flogged so severely in the presence of all the other slaves belonging to
the plantation that at first it seemed doubtful whether he would ever
recover from the effects of it; and, though he did eventually, it was
nearly three months before he was again fit for work.
This incident of Pedro's escape and its unfortunate failure was
naturally the chief topic of conversation among the slaves for a long
time afterwards, and George heard so much of the many difficulties
attending such attempts, that he often felt upon the very brink of
despair. The obstacles were so great as to be almost insurmountable
when those who made the attempt were strong, healthy, thoroughly inured
to fatigue, and had all their faculties about them; but when it came to
not only making good one's own escape, but also that of a feeble and
weakly companion of unsettled reason, the task seemed so utterly
hopeless, so thoroughly impracticable, that it appeared almost worse
than madness to dream of undertaking it.
Yet, in spite of all this, and notwithstanding the terrible example
which had been made of the unhappy Pedro, George clung tenaciously to
the idea, and never let slip an opportunity to do anything which in ever
so slight a degree might contribute to his success when the time should
come for the effort to be made. As time passed on, and his knowledge of
the Spanish language became perfected, his uniform industry and good
conduct procured him many little indulgences; such as a few hours of
release from field-labour now and then, in order that he might instead
be despatched, duly provided with a "pass," on some errand or message,
either to a neighbouring plantation or to Havana itself. These little
journeys not only afforded him an opportunity--of which he made the
most--of studying the physical geography of the island, but also of
hunting for the precious plant by means of which he hoped to
successfully hide his trail; and in this latter quest he was so far
fortunate that he found at different times as many as eight of them,
five of which he successfully transplanted to a favourable spot on the
estate itself in such an out-of-the-way locality that he fervently hoped
they would escape discovery.
The next task which he set himself--and Tom--was that of propitiating
and making friends with the dogs which nightly guarded the estate; but
in this they were wholly unsuccessful; the creatures had been too well
trained, and they absolutely refused all overtures from men who wore the
detested garb of slavery. The circumstance, however, that they were of
white instead of negro blood was a point in our adventurers' favour, and
George accidentally made the discovery that, probably in consequence of
this circumstance, when he was able by any means to conceal the uniform
he usually wore, the hounds, though still suspicious, were puzzled and
undecided how to behave towards him.
In the meantime, whilst steadily cultivating the favour of the overseers
by his unvarying industry and good conduct, he as sedulously cultivated
the good-will and friendship of his fellow-slaves; and by the exercise
of great tact and circumspection he gradually won from them, without
exciting their slightest suspicion, such a mass of valuable information
as quite decided him, when the time should come, to make his way inland
and to the southward, rather than to the northward, the latter route,
though that which would soonest enable him to reach the coast, being
chiefly, in consequence of that circumstance, by far the most perilous
one.
The next matter requiring attention, was the acquisition of arms of some
description, with which the party could defend themselves in the event
of their being pursued and overtaken. These, by a lucky chance, he was
at length enabled to procure, in the shape of three cane-knives, weapons
closely resembling a cutlass as regards the length and curve of the
blade, but provided merely with a wooden handle, instead of the metal
guard usually fitted to the latter weapon. The same lucky chance which
enabled him to secure these cane-knives--namely, the finding of a gold
five-dollar piece on the road during one of his excursions into Havana--
also supplied him with the means of purchasing three coarse canvas
jackets, such as were commonly worn by the Cuban coasting seamen at that
time, and with these he hoped to sufficiently disguise himself and his
companions to avoid any inconvenient questioning on the road, when the
time for the great attempt should arrive.
The auspicious moment arrived, as such moments frequently do, quite
unexpectedly, and it came about in the following manner.
When George and his comrades had been in slavery a trifle over a year, a
message reached the estate to the effect that a ship had that day
arrived from Europe, in the cargo of which there were certain household
articles that had been ordered expressly for the use of the planter's
wife, and that, as they happened to be stowed on the top, and the ship
had already begun to discharge, it was desirable that they should be
sent for at once, in order that they might escape damage. This message
reached the estate quite late in the evening, in fact it was within half
an hour of the time for knocking off work for the night; but so
impatient was the lady to see her new possessions, that she insisted
upon their being sent for at once, and George, as the most trustworthy
slave on the plantation, was ordered to take the mule-waggon and a
couple of companions, and proceed into town forthwith to fetch them, so
that they might be at the house and all ready for unloading by the first
thing next morning. He was instructed that, as it would probably be
very late, or rather, early next morning, before he returned, he was to
drive the waggon down to the engine-house, and place it under the shed
there for the remainder of the night, instead of driving up to the
house, so that he might not disturb the occupants by the noise of his
arrival.
Leicester at once saw that this errand would afford him probably the
best opportunity he would ever have for the attempted escape; he
therefore mentioned to the overseer that he thought Tom and Walford
would be the most handy men he could take with him as helpers, and at
once went off in an unconcerned manner, but with a well-assumed air of
imperfectly concealed dissatisfaction at the prospect of his night
journey, to harness up the mules. On his way to the stables he sought
out Walford and the lad Tom, bidding them both be ready to go with him,
and imparting to the latter his determination to take advantage of this
opportunity to attempt their joint escape.
This done, he hurried away to the spot where he had concealed his
treasured plants, and arrived there, only to find that they were gone.
Whether they had been discovered and destroyed by the overseers, or had
been found and appropriated by some fellow-slave acquainted with their
valuable properties, it was impossible to tell; the one indisputable
fact was that the plants had vanished.
This was a most unfortunate circumstance, but George would not allow it
to dishearten him; the fugitives would have several hours' start before
the pursuit would commence, and then there was always the possibility
that other specimens of the plant might be found.
Thinking thus, he slowly wended his way to the stable, where he
harnessed up the mules, threw into the waggon a quantity of grass and
cane-leaves, together with a canvas cover and rope, supposed to be
required for packing and protecting the articles, and then drove to the
hut, where Tom and Walford awaited him. The former, a very shrewd and
intelligent young fellow, had immediately, upon being apprised by George
of his intention, hurried off to prepare "supper," recognising the great
importance of a good substantial meal before starting, especially in
view of the uncertainty as to when they would be able to secure another;
and when George reached the hut, this meal was just ready.
The trio partook of this, their last meal in slavery, as they hoped,
with great deliberation, George being most anxious not to start until
darkness should so far have settled down upon the scene as to allow of
his smuggling the cane-knives and canvas jackets in under the grass in
the waggon without detection.
This was at length successfully managed, and, first taking a careful
look all round the hut, to see that they were leaving nothing behind
them which might possibly prove useful, they clambered into the cart,
and drove slowly off.
Night had by this time fairly set in; the stars were just beginning to
peep out from the deepening blue of the cloudless vault above them, and
the moon, in her first quarter, and hanging almost in the zenith, was
already flooding the scene with her soft silvery radiance. It promised
to be a magnificent night for their enterprise, though excessively close
and hot; and as they turned into the main road leading into Havana, and
left the estate fairly behind them, George and the lad Tom felt their
spirits rising and their pulses bounding with joyous anticipation of a
speedy return to freedom.
Whilst harnessing the mules, Leicester had rapidly turned over in his
mind the _pros_ and _cons_ of the situation, and had come to the
conclusion that it would be necessary in the first instance to proceed
some three or four miles on the road toward Havana. This necessity
arose from the circumstance that the planter's house stood upon a slight
eminence commanding a perfect view of the road for that distance, and as
Leicester could not possibly be sure that some one might not be idly
watching, from the verandah, the progress of the waggon as long as it
remained in view, he deemed it only common prudence to keep to the road
until he had passed completely out of the range of any such chance
watchers. This done, he intended to turn sharp off and make the best of
his way southward, utilising the waggon and mules for as great a
distance as possible, and then abandoning them and pressing forward on
foot. The distance which they would have to travel was not very great,
the island being, according to such information as had been available to
him, only some twelve and a half Spanish leagues, or about thirty
English miles wide at that part. Thus, if they were fortunate in their
choice of a route, so as to be able to use the waggon for the whole
distance, they might succeed in reaching the southern shore of the
island before their escape was so much as suspected.
George explained all this to Tom as the mules trotted cheerily along the
road, and by the time that the plan of escape had been fully elucidated,
they had reached a point where they might with perfect safety branch off
and make their way to the southward. This they did at once, branching
square off to the westward in the first instance, until they were about
a mile distant from the road, and completely hidden by the bush from the
observation of any one upon it, and then turning in a southerly
direction. A dense belt of forest then lay before them, at a distance
of some six miles, with a lofty hill-top rising behind it, and toward
this latter object George now headed the mules as straight as the
scattered clumps of bush would permit.
The soil was very light and sandy, but it was covered with a thick
growth of grass, which prevented the mules' feet or the waggon-wheels
from sinking, so that the travelling was nearly, if not quite as rapid
as it had been along the road. A sharp lookout was maintained for signs
indicative of their approach to the neighbourhood of plantations, and
two or three bridle-paths, evidently leading to such, were crossed; but
at length they reached the welcome skirts of the forest without having
had the least cause to suppose that they had been observed.
In the meantime, however, a heavy bank of thundercloud had been observed
rapidly gathering on the southern horizon, and the runaways had scarcely
plunged a mile into the forest before the heavens were obscured, and it
at once became so pitch-dark that it was utterly impossible for them to
proceed. The mules were consequently pulled up, and the three
adventurers made what few preparations were possible for their
protection from the coming storm.
Soon the low threatening rumble of the thunder was heard, and then, as
it rapidly increased in volume of sound, bright flashes of light were
seen blazing out beyond the interweaving branches of the trees. The
storm, as in all tropical countries, quickly gathered force and
intensity, and very soon it was raging in all its fury above and around
them. The loud reverberating roll of the thunder was incessant, the
lightning flashed with ever-increasing rapidity, and at last the entire
atmosphere seemed to be in one continued tremulous glare of unearthly
light.
The mules started and quivered, as the lightning-flashes grew more rapid
and intense; and finally they became so terrified that George had as
much as he could do to restrain them from bolting, and so dashing
themselves, the waggon, and its occupants to pieces against the trees.
The storm was at its fiercest when suddenly the party found themselves
enveloped in a blinding blaze of greenish-blue light; simultaneously
there came a terrific rattling crash, as though the universe had burst
asunder; the occupants of the waggon--blinded, and deafened by the
dazzling brilliancy of the flash and the tremendous report which
accompanied it--felt themselves hurled violently to the earth, and then
followed oblivion.