y for every species of cruelty and brutality. These men literally
"bind heavy burdens, grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's
shoulders; but they, themselves, will not move them with one of their
fingers."

My kind readers shall have, in the next chapter--what they were led,
perhaps, to expect to find in this--namely: an account of my partial
disenthrallment from the tyranny of Covey, and the marked change which
it brought about.

CHAPTER XVII. _The Last Flogging_

A SLEEPLESS NIGHT--RETURN TO COVEY'S--PURSUED BY COVEY--THE
CHASE DEFEATED--VENGEANCE POSTPONED--MUSINGS IN THE WOODS--THE
ALTERNATIVE--DEPLORABLE SPECTACLE--NIGHT IN THE WOODS--EXPECTED
ATTACK--ACCOSTED BY SANDY, A FRIEND, NOT A HUNTER--SANDY'S
HOSPITALITY--THE "ASH CAKE" SUPPER--THE INTERVIEW WITH SANDY--HIS
ADVICE--SANDY A CONJURER AS WELL AS A CHRISTIAN--THE MAGIC ROOT--STRANGE
MEETING WITH COVEY--HIS MANNER--COVEY'S SUNDAY FACE--MY DEFENSIVE
RESOLVE--THE FIGHT--THE VICTORY, AND ITS RESULTS.

Sleep itself does not always come to the relief of the weary in body,
and the broken in spirit; especially when past troubles only foreshadow
coming disasters. The last hope had been extinguished. My master, who
I did not venture to hope would protect me as _a man_, had even now
refused to protect me as _his property;_ and had cast me back, covered
with reproaches and bruises, into the hands of a stranger to that mercy
which was the soul of the religion he professed. May the reader never
spend such a night as that allotted to me, previous to the morning which
was to herald my return to the den of horrors from which I had made a
temporary escape.

I remained all night--sleep I did not--at St. Michael's; and in the
morning (Saturday) I started off, according to the order of Master
Thomas, feeling that I had no friend on earth, and doubting if I had one
in heaven. I reached Covey's about nine o'clock; and just as I stepped
into the field, before I had reached the house, Covey, true to his
snakish habits, darted out at me{181} from a fence corner, in which
he had secreted himself, for the purpose of securing me. He was amply
provided with a cowskin and a rope; and he evidently intended to _tie
me up_, and to wreak his vengeance on me to the fullest extent. I should
have been an easy prey, had he succeeded in getting his hands upon me,
for I had taken no refreshment since noon on Friday; and this, together
with the pelting, excitement, and the loss of b