ed them with the
lash, if they did not cease talking and attend to their work. Again and
again was the proud George Waters subjected to indignities, until he
could scarcely restrain himself from knocking Martin, his overseer,
down, and selling his life in the defence of his liberty; but he
remembered Cora, and resolved to bear taunts and indignities for her
sake, until his term of service was ended. His only comfort was that his
child was well cared for.

He had been a year and a half on the upper plantation of Thomas Hull,
and though he had demeaned himself well, and had done the labor of two
ordinary men--though he had never uttered a word of complaint, no matter
what burdens were laid upon him, his natural pride and nobility of
character won the hatred of the overseer. The fellow had a violent
temper and hated George Waters.

One day, from no provocation at all, he threatened to beat Waters. The
servant snatched the whip from his hand and said:

"I would do you no harm, sir. I have always performed my tasks to the
best of my ability, and never have I complained; but if you so much as
give me one stroke, I will kill you."

There was fire in his eye and an earnestness in his voice, which awed
the cowardly overseer; but at the same time they increased his hatred.
He resolved to be revenged, and reported to Hull that the slave was
rebellious. Hull permitted George Waters to be tied to a tree by four
stout negroes, whose barbarous natures delighted in such work, and the
overseer laid a whip a dozen times about his bare shoulders. No groan
escaped his lips. For three days he lay about his miserable lodge
waiting for his wounds to heal, and meanwhile made up his mind to fly
from the colony.

He had heard that a society of Friends, or Quakers, had formed a colony
to the north, which was called Pennsylvania; and he knew that they would
succor a slave. As soon as he was well enough, he stole from a cabin a
gun, a knife and some ammunition, and set out in the night to find the
plantation of Robert Stevens, where Cora was. His escape was discovered
and the overseer, with Thomas Hull, set out in hot pursuit of the
fugitive. At dawn of day they came in sight of him in the forest on the
Lower James River and, being on horseback, gave chase.

"Keep away! keep back!" cried the fugitive, "or I will not answer for
the consequences," and he brandished his gun in the air. The overseer
was armed with pistols and, drawing one, gallo