DENTS OF "MY LIFE AS A SLAVE"--REASONS WHY FULL PARTICULARS
OF THE MANNER OF MY ESCAPE WILL NOT BE GIVEN--CRAFTINESS AND MALICE OF
SLAVEHOLDERS--SUSPICION OF AIDING A SLAVE'S ESCAPE ABOUT AS DANGEROUS
AS POSITIVE EVIDENCE--WANT OF WISDOM SHOWN IN PUBLISHING DETAILS OF THE
ESCAPE OF THE FUGITIVES--PUBLISHED ACCOUNTS REACH THE MASTERS, NOT
THE SLAVES--SLAVEHOLDERS STIMULATED TO GREATER WATCHFULNESS--MY
CONDITION--DISCONTENT--SUSPICIONS IMPLIED BY MASTER HUGH'S MANNER, WHEN
RECEIVING MY WAGES--HIS OCCASIONAL GENEROSITY!--DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY
OF ESCAPE--EVERY AVENUE GUARDED--PLAN TO OBTAIN MONEY--I AM ALLOWED
TO HIRE MY TIME--A GLEAM OF HOPE--ATTENDS CAMP-MEETING, WITHOUT
PERMISSION--ANGER OF MASTER HUGH THEREAT--THE RESULT--MY PLANS OF ESCAPE
ACCELERATED THERBY--THE DAY FOR MY DEPARTURE FIXED--HARASSED BY DOUBTS
AND FEARS--PAINFUL THOUGHTS OF SEPARATION FROM FRIENDS--THE ATTEMPT
MADE--ITS SUCCESS.

I will now make the kind reader acquainted with the closing incidents of
my "Life as a Slave," having already trenched upon the limit allotted to
my "Life as a Freeman." Before, however, proceeding with this narration,
it is, perhaps, proper that I should frankly state, in advance, my
intention to withhold a part of the(sic) connected with my escape from
slavery. There are reasons for this suppression, which I trust the
reader will deem altogether valid. It may be easily conceived, that a
full and complete statement of all facts pertaining to the flight of a
bondman, might implicate and embarrass some who may have, wittingly or
unwittingly, assisted him; and no one can wish me to involve any
man or{249} woman who has befriended me, even in the liability of
embarrassment or trouble.

Keen is the scent of the slaveholder; like the fangs of the rattlesnake,
his malice retains its poison long; and, although it is now nearly
seventeen years since I made my escape, it is well to be careful, in
dealing with the circumstances relating to it. Were I to give but a
shadowy outline of the process adopted, with characteristic aptitude,
the crafty and malicious among the slaveholders might, possibly, hit
upon the track I pursued, and involve some one in suspicion which, in
a slave state, is about as bad as positive evidence. The colored man,
there, must not only shun evil, but shun the very _appearance_ of evil,
or be condemned as a criminal. A slaveholding community has a peculiar
taste for ferreting out offenses against the slave syst