torn to pieces and consumed! Then regarding me with a
sarcastic grin--'As you are determined to remain here, young man, it is
as little as I can do to accommodate you with an apartment; though,
perhaps, it may not prove altogether agreeable to your wishes.'

"He then ordered me to be conducted to a room he named, and which I
afterwards found was used as a place of confinement to those slaves who
failed in their attempts for liberty. My arms were there unbound, and I
was left to the solitary comfort of a bed of reeds. The first violence
of passion subsiding, I perceived the folly of my late behaviour; and,
as I doubted not my friends would effect my liberation, I determined, if
possible, to rectify the errors my rage had occasioned; and I had still
sufficient proofs remaining, I doubted not, to bring Johnson to justice.

"According to my expectations, my friends, the next day, came to
Johnson's, and on being refused any satisfactory intelligence respecting
me, applied to the Governor, who issued an order, in consequence of
which my villanous steward was obliged to release me, or stand indicted
for my murder. A formal process of law was then commenced against him;
the cause finally brought to trial; and, as my witnesses and proofs were
indisputable, the verdict pronounced in my favour. But the crafty
villain effectually screened himself from punishment by the evidence of
his two servants, who positively swore their master had, previously to
my arrival, purchased the plantations of a man who assumed my name; and
that they were witnesses to the deeds, which were accordingly produced.

"The behaviour of Johnson in destroying the papers relative to the
stewardship, and the question--where could he honestly have amassed
money sufficient for the purchase--effectually proved the falsity of
this account: but as I had recovered my right, and could bring no
witnesses of his conduct, I desisted from farther prosecution.

"Johnson, thus cleared from intentional fraud, unquestioned master of
the money he had amassed during his illegal tenure of the plantations,
purchased one adjoining mine, and proved such a troublesome neighbour,
that for five years I had occasion for all my forbearance and
circumspection, to avoid a continual course of law-suits. During that
time my affairs in England had been very little attended to; and as my
overseer was a man on whose integrity I could rely, I determined to pay
a visit to my native country. I