Added to the dread of separation, most painful to the majority of the slaves, we all had a decided horror of the thought of falling into the hands of Master Andrew.

He was distinguished for cruelty and intemperance.
Slaves generally dread to fall into the hands of drunken owners.

Master Andrew was almost a confirmed sot, and had already, by his reckless mismanagement and profligate dissipation, wasted a large portion of old master's property.

To fall into his hands, was, therefore, considered merely as the first step toward being sold away to the far south.

He would spend his fortune in a few years, and his farms and slaves would be sold, we thought, at public outcry; and we should be hurried away to the cotton fields, and rice swamps, of the sunny south.