The second night from home I camped in a cane break down in the Red river swamp not a great way off from the road, perhaps not twenty rods, exposed to wild ferocious beasts which were numerous in that section of country.  On that night about the middle of the night the mule heard the sound of horses feet on the road, and he commenced stamping and trying to break away.  As the horses seemed to come nearer, the mule commenced trying to bray, and it was all that I could do to prevent him from making a loud bray there in the woods, which would have betrayed me.

I supposed that it was the overseer out with the dogs looking for me, and I found afterwards that I was not mistaken.  As soon as the people had passed by, I mounted the mule and took him home to prevent his betraying me.  When I got near by home I stripped off the tackling and turned the mule loose.  I then slipt up to the cabin wherein my wife laid and found her awake, much distressed about me.  She informed me that they were then out looking for me, and that the Deacon was bent on flogging me nearly to death, and then selling me off from my family.  This was truly heart-rending to my poor wife; the thought of our being torn apart in a strange land after having been sold away from all her friends and relations, was more than she could bear.

The Deacon had declared that I should not only suffer for the crime of attending a prayer meeting without his permission, and for running away, but for the awful crime of stealing a jackass, which was death by the law when committed by a negro.

But I well knew that I was regarded as property, and so was the ass; and I thought if one piece of property took off another, there could be no law violated in the act; no more sin committed in this than if one jackass had rode off another.

But after consultation with my wife I concluded to take her and my little daughter with me and they would be guilty of the same crime that I was, so far as running away was concerned; and if the Deacon sold one he might sell us all, and perhaps to the same person.

So we started off with our child that night, and made our way down to the Red river swamps among the buzzing insects and wild beasts of the forest.  We wandered about in the wilderness for eight or ten days before we were apprehended, striving to make our way from slavery; but it was all in vain.  Our food was parched corn, with wild fruit such as pawpaws, percimmons, grapes, &c.  We did at one time chance to find a sweet potato patch where we got a few potatoes; but most of the time, while we were out, we were lost.  We wanted to cross the Red river but could find no conveyance to cross in.