They said I should not be sold nor punished with the lash for what I had done, but I should be carried back to Bedford, to live with my wife.  Yet when the boat got to where we should have landed, she wafted by without making any stop.  I felt awful in view of never seeing my family again; they asked what was the matter? what made me look so cast down?  I informed them that I knew I was to be sold in the Louisville slave market, or in New Orleans, and I never expected to see my family again.  But they tried to pacify me by promising not to sell me to a slave trader who would take me off to New Orleans; cautioning me at the same time not to let it be known that I had been a runaway.  This would very much lessen the value of me in market.  They would not punish me by putting irons on my limbs, but would give me a good name, and sell me to some gentleman in Louisville for a house servant.  They thought I would soon make money enough to buy myself, and would not part with me if they could get along without.  But I had cost them so much in advertising and looking for me, that they were involved by it.  In the first place they paid eight hundred and fifty dollars for me; and when I first run away, they paid one hundred for advertising and looking after me; and now they had to pay about forty dollars, expenses travelling to and from Cincinnati, in addition to the three hundred dollars reward; and they were not able to pay the reward without selling me.

I knew then the only alternative left for me to extricate myself was to use deception, which is the most effectual defence a slave can use.  I pretended to be satisfied for the purpose of getting an opportunity of giving them the slip.

But oh, the distress of mind, the lamentable thought that I should never again see the face nor hear the gentle voice of my nearest and dearest friends in this life.  I could imagine what must be my fate from my peculiar situation.  To be sold to the highest bidder, and then wear the chains of slavery down to the grave.  The day star of liberty which had once cheered and gladdened my heart in freedom’s land, had then hidden itself from my vision, and the dark and dismal frown of slavery had obscured the sunshine of freedom from me, as they supposed for all time to come.

But the understanding between us was, I was not to be tied, chained, nor flogged; for if they should take me into the city handcuffed and guarded by five men the question might be asked what crime I had committed?  And if it should be known that I had been a runaway to Canada, it would lessen the value of me at least one hundred dollars.

CHAPTER VI.

Arrival at Louisville, Ky.—­Efforts to sell me.—­Fortunate escape from the man-stealers in the public street.—­I return to Bedford, Ky.—­The rescue of my family again attempted.—­I started alone expecting them to follow.—­After waiting some months I resolve to go back again to Kentucky.