When we had finished the work, one of the men came to me, aside, and asked me a number of questions, and among them, if I were a slave.

I told him "I was a slave, and a slave for life." The good Irishman gave his shoulders a shrug, and seemed deeply affected by the statement.

He said, "it was a pity so fine a little fellow as myself should be a slave for life." They both had much to say about the matter, and expressed the deepest sympathy with me, and the most decided hatred of slavery.

They went so far as to tell me that I ought to run away, and go to the north; that I should find friends there, and that I would be as free as anybody.

I, however, pretended not to be interested in what they said, for I feared they might be treacherous.