Fortunately, however, he had
one who owned a "sailor's protection," a document describing the holder
and certifying to the fact that he was a "free American sailor." This
"protection" did not describe its bearer very accurately. But it
called for a man very much darker than himself, and a close examination
would have betrayed him at the start. In the face of all these
conditions young Douglass Was relying upon something besides a dubious
written passport. This something was his desperate courage. He had
learned to act the part of a freeman so well that no one suspected him
of being a slave. He had early acquired the habit of studying human
nature. As he grew to understand men, he no longer dreaded them. No
one knew better than he the kind of human nature that he had to deal
with in this perilous undertaking. He knew the speech, manner, and
behavior that would excite suspicion; hence he avoided asking for a
ticket at the railway station, because this would subject him to
examination. He so managed that just as the train started he jumped
on, his bag being thrown after him by some one in waiting. He knew
that scrutiny of him in a crowded car en route would be less exacting
than at the station.
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