arned of our purpose to run away,
and concluded to join our party. So one night, when all was still, we
started. Uncle Alfred, as I always called him, was to be our leader. He
was older than any of the rest of us, and had had a good deal of
experience; we, therefore, all looked to him--in fact, we relied
entirely upon him. After we had traveled about twelve miles, we came to
a swamp, called Hicke-Halley. Here we stopped, as day was dawning, and
settled down for the day, as we could travel only in the night, lest we
should be seen and caught. We were wet--our clothes soaked through from
the heavy dew. We had to travel through corn fields, cotton patches, oat
fields and underbrush, not daring to take the main road. This is why we
were so wet. Uncle Alfred traveled wholly by the stars--they were his
guide. He knew by looking at them the four cardinal points of the
compass. Many old slaves were guided in this way when traveling in the
night, and some could tell the time of night by the position of the
stars. We stayed in Hicke-Halley all day, and in the evening, when it
was dark enough, we started on again, Uncle Alfred offering up a prayer
to God to guide us safely through. Cold Water was our next stopping
place, and here a difficulty rose before us that made us fearful. We had
nothing to wear but what we had on, and not much of that, so had small
space for carrying anything, and, therefore, had brought with us only a
little bite to eat. As we had lived on this small provision for a day,
there was now but little left for our increasing wants; and the
difficulty of securing anything from the houses without danger of
detection was almost insurmountable. But we felt encouraged as we
thought of what we were striving for, and sped on our way. But the way
was hard, for sometimes we got completely stuck in brier patches, and
had to turn and go back, in order to find a way out. Old logs and
driftwood, that had been piled up year after year, were other obstacles
in our way; and one can imagine how hard it was to make our way through
such a mass of brush and forest by the dim light of the stars as they
struggled through the dense branches of the trees. We stumbled on,
however, as best we could, each fearful, yet silently praying for
guidance and help. When within four or five miles of Cold Water, Uncle
Alfred stopped, and cautioned us not to speak above a whisper, as the
rebel troops were camped on both sides of us. We were in a swamp