Then why not I teach them a lesson?" He then dressed himself
in the best suit, hung his own worn-out and tattered garments on
the same chair, and silently passed through the window to the
piazza, and let himself down by one of the pillars, and started
once more for the North.
Daylight came upon the fugitive before he had selected a
hiding-place for the day, and he was walking at a rapid rate, in
hopes of soon reaching some woodland or forest. The sun had just
begun to show itself, when the fugitive was astounded at seeing
behind him, in the distance, two men upon horseback. Taking a
road to the right, the slave saw before him a farmhouse, and so
near was he to it that he observed two men in front of it looking
at him. It was too late to turn back. The kidnappers were behind
him--strange men before him. Those in the rear he knew to be
enemies, while he had no idea of what principles were the farmers.
The latter also saw the white men coming, and called to the
fugitive to come that way. The broad-brimmed hats that the farmers
wore told the slave that they were Quakers.
Jerome had seen some of these people passing up and down the river,
when employed on a steamer between Natchez and New Orleans, and
had heard that they disliked slavery. He, therefore, hastened
toward the drab-coated men, who, on his approach, opened the
barn-door, and told him to "run in."
When Jerome entered the barn, the two farmers closed the door,
remaining outside themselves, to confront the slave-catchers, who
now came up and demanded admission, feeling that they had their
prey secure.
Pages:
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112