carried away from his family for life into
slavery, and could see a chance to escape and get back to his family;
should the Indians pursue him with a determination to take him back or
take his life, would it be a crime for the poor fugitive, whose life,
liberty, and future happiness were all at stake, to mount any man's
horse by the way side, and ride him without asking any questions, to
effect his escape? Or who would not do the same thing to rescue a
wife, child, father, or mother? Such an act committed by a white man
under the same circumstances would not only be pronounced proper, but
praiseworthy; and if he neglected to avail himself of such a means of
escape he would be pronounced a fool. Therefore from this act I have
nothing to regret, for I have done nothing more than any other
reasonable person would have done under the same circumstances. But I
had good luck from the morning I left the horse until I got back into
the State of Ohio. About two miles from where I left the horse, I
found a public house on the road, where I stopped and took breakfast.
Being asked where I was traveling, I replied that I was going home to
Perrysburgh, Ohio, and that I had been out to look at the land in
Missouri, with a view of buying. They supposed me to be a native of
Ohio, from the fact of my being so well acquainted with its location,
its principal cities, inhabitants, &c.

The next night I put up at one of the best hotels in the village where
I stopped, and acted with as much independence as if I was worth a
million of dollars; talked about buying land, stock and village
property, and contrasting it with the same kind of property in the
State of Ohio. In this kind of talk they were most generally
interested, and I was treated just like other travelers. I made it a
point to travel about thirty miles each day on my way to Jefferson
city. On several occasions I have asked the landlords where I have
stopped over night, if they could tell me who kept the best house
where I would stop the next night, which was most generally in a small
village. But for fear I might forget, I would get them to give me the
name on a piece of paper as a kind of recommend. This would serve as
an introduction through which I have always been well received from
one landlord to another, and I have always stopped at the best houses,
eaten at the first tables, and slept in the best beds. No man ever
asked me whether I was bond or free, black or white, rich o