# The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive/Chapter 30

Contents
CHAPTER XXX.
The authority of masters over their slaves is in general a continual reign of terror. A base and dastard fear is the sole principle of human nature to which the slave-holder appeals. When it was determined to hang the poor fellow, whose fate I have described in the last chapter, his judges could not know, nor do I suppose, they much cared, whether he were innocent or guilty. Their great object was to terrify the survivors; and by an example of what they would denominate wholesome and necessary severity, to deter from any further trespasses upon the neighboring plantations. In this they succeeded; for though Thomas ​endeavored to keep up our spirits, we were thoroughly scared, and felt little inclination to second his boldness, which seemed to grow more determined, the more obstacles it encountered.
One of our confederates in particular, was so alarmed at the fate of poor Billy, that he seemed to have lost all self-control; and we were in constant fear lest he should betray us. When the first paroxysm of his terror was at its height, the evening after he had witnessed the execution, I believe he would gladly have confessed the whole, if he could have found a white.man sober enough to listen to him. After a while, he grew more calm; but in the course of the day he had dropped some hints, which were carefully treasured up by one of the drivers. He reported them, as I discovered, to the overseer; but Mr Martin had not yet recovered from the effects of the frolic; and he was too drunk and stupid to understand a word that the driver said to him.
We had begun to get the better of our fears, when a new incident happened, which determined us to seek our safety in flight. Some persons, in passing along the river bank, had discovered our canoe, which in the hurry of our retreat, we had taken too little care to conceal. It contained not only our bags full of rice- — for we had not yet recovered courage enough to go after them, — but our shoes also, all exactly of the same size, and corresponding with the measure which had been produced upon the trial. Here was ample proof that quite a number had been engaged in the scheme of depredation; and as one of the company had been traced to Loosahachee, it would be reasonable to look for the others upon the same plantation. Luckily I obtained an early intimation of this discovery, by means of one of the overseer's house-servants, with whom I had the policy to keep up a pretty intimate connection. A man had arrived at the overseer's house, his horse dripping with foam, — and with an appearance of great haste and impatience, he had asked to see the overseer. The moment he came in, the stranger requested to speak with him alone; and Mr Martin took his guest into another room and locked the door. The girl, who was my spy and informant, under an appearance of the greatest simplicity, was artful and ​intelligent; and she was prompted to overhear this secret conversation, as much by her own curiosity, as by the suspicion that it might possibly be something, in which I would take an interest. She contrived to conceal herself in a closet, which was separated from the room in which the overseer and his visitor were conversing, only by a thin partition; and having overheard his story, the substance of which I have already mentioned, — and learned besides, that the court would hold a new session at Loosahachee, the day following, — she hastened to inform me of what she had heard. She knew nothing in particular, of our affairs; but she had reason to believe that this piece of news would not be entirely uninteresting to me.
I informed Thomas of what she had told me. We agreed at once, that our best chance of safety was in flight; and we immediately communicated our intention, and the cause of it, to the rest of our confederates. They were anxious to accompany us; and we all resolved to be off that yery night.
As soon as evening came on, we stole away from the plantation and gained the woods in company. As we anticipated that a very diligent search would be made for us, we thought it best to separate. Thomas and myself resolved to keep together; the others scattered and took various directions. As long as the darkness lasted, we travelled on as rapidly as we could. When the morning began to appear, we plunged into a thick swampy piece of woods, and having broken down some branches and young trees, we made as dry a bed as we were able, and lay down to sleep. We were much fatigued with our long and rapid journey, and slept soundly. It was past noon when we waked. Our appetites were sharp, but we had no provisions. Just as we were beginning to consider what course it would be best for us to pursue, we heard the distant baying of a hound. Thomas listened for a moment, and then exclaimed that he knew that ery. It was a famous dog, a cross of the blood-hound, which Mr Martin had long had in training, and upon whose performances in tracking out runaways he very much prided himself. The place where we were, was a thick swamp, in which it was difficult to move, ​and not easy to stand. To cross it would be impossible; and we resolved to get into the edge of it, where the ground was harder, and the undergrowth thinner, and to continue our flight. We did so; but the hound gained rapidly upon us, and his baying sounded louder and louder. Thomas drew a stout sharp knife, which he carried 'in his pocket. We were now just at the border where the dry: ground came down upon the swamp, and looking behind us, across the level and open woods, we could see the hound coming on with his nose to the ground, and uttering at intervals a deep and savage cry. Farther behind, but still in full view, we saw a man on horseback, whom we took to be Mr Martin himself.
The dog was evidently upon our track; and following it to the place where we had first plunged into the swamp, he disappeared from our view. But we could still hear his clamor, which grew louder and almost constant; and we soon perceived by the rustling and cracking of the underwood that he was close upon us. At this moment we faced about, and stood at bay; — Thomas in front, with his knife in hand, and I just behind, with a sharp and heavy lightwood knot, the best, indeed the only weapon, of which I could avail myself. Presently the dog emerged from the swamp. The moment he saw us, he redoubled his cry, and dashed forward foaming and open-mouthed. He made a great leap directly at Thomas's throat, but only succeeded in seizing his left arm, which Thomas raised as a shield against the dog's attack. At the same instant he dealt a stroke with his knife, which penetrated to the hilt, and dog and man came struggling to the ground. How the contest would have ended had 'Thomas been alone, is very doubtful; for though the hound soon received several wounds, they only seemed to increase his ferocity, and he still struggled to get at the throat of his antagonist. My lightwood knot now did good service. Tiwo or three heavy blows upon the dog's head laid him senseless and sprawling on the ground.
While we had been awaiting the dog's attack, and during the contest, we had scarcely thought of his master; but looking up, after it was over, we discovered that Mr Martin ​was already very near us. When the dog took to the swamp, his master had followed along upon its edge, and came suddenly upon us before we had expected him. He pointed his gun and called upon us to surrender. Thomas no sooner saw the overseer, than he seemed to lose all his self-control, and grasping his knife, he rushed directly upon him. Mr Martin fired; — but the buck-shot rattled harmlessly among the trees, and as he was attempting to wheel his horse, Thomas dashed upon him, seized him by the arm, and dragged him to the ground. The horse ran frightened through the woods; and it was in vain that I attempted to stop him. We looked round in expectation, of seeing some others of the huntsmen coming up. None were in sight; and we seized the opportunity to retreat, and to carry our prisoner into the covert of the swamp.
We learned from him, that by the time the court and their attendants arrived at Loosahachee, our flight had been discovered, and that it was immediately resolved to raise the neighborhood, and to commence a general search for the runaways. All the horses, dogs and men that could be come at, were put into requisition. They were divided into parties, and immediately commenced beating through the woods and swamps in the neighborhood.
A party of five or six men, with Mr Martin and his blood-hound, had traced three of our companions into a thick swamp, just on the bank of a river. The pursuers dismounted, and with their guns in their hands, they followed the dog into the thicket. Our poor fellows were, so overcome with fatigue, that they slept till the very moment that the hound sprang in upon them. He seized one of them by the throat, and held him to the ground. The others ran; and as they ran, the pursuers fired. One of the fugitives fell dead, horribly mangled and cut to pieces with buck-shot; the other still. continued his flight. As soon as the dog could be compelled to quit his hold of the man he had seized, — which was not without difficulty and delay, — he was put upon the track of the surviving fugitive. He followed it to the river, where he stood at fault. The man had probably plunged in, and swum to the other side; but as the dog could not be made to take the water, and as ​the swamp on the opposite bank was reputed to be very soft and dangerous, no further pursuit was made; the chase in that direction was given up, and the poor fellow was suffered to escape for the present.
The pursuers now separated. Two of them undertook to carry back to Loosahachee the captive they had taken, and the other three, with Mr Martin and his hound, were to continue the hunt in search of the rest of us. They learned from their captive the place at which we had parted company, and the direction which the several parties had taken. After beating about for some time, the hound struck upon our trail, and opened in full cry; but the horses of Mr Martin's companions were so broken down, that when he began to spur on, to keep up with the hound, he soon left them far behind. Mr Martin ended his story by advising us to go in and surrender ourselves; giving us his word and honor as a gentleman and an overseer, that if we would offer him no further violence or injury, he would protect us from punishment, and reward us most handsomely.
The sun was now setting. The short twilight which follows a Carolina sunset would soon be succeeded by the darkness of a cloudy and moonless night; and we felt but little apprehension of being immediately troubled by our pursuers. I looked at Thomas, as if to inquire what we had better do. He drew me aside, — having first examined the fastenings of our prisoner, whom we had bound to a tree, by some cords found in his own pocket, and which were doubtless intended for a very different purpose.
Thomas paused for a moment, as if to collect his thoughts; then pointing to Mr Martin, "Archy," he said, "that man dies to-night."
There was a wild energy, and at the same time, a steady coolness, in the tone in which he spoke. It startled me; at first I made no answer; and as meanwhile I looked Thomas in the face, I saw there an expression of stern exultation, and a fixedness of purpose not to be shaken. His eyes flashed fire, as he repeated, — but in a low and quiet tone that contrasted strangely with the matter of his speech, — "I tell you, Archy, that man dies to-night. She commands it; I have promised it; and now the time is come." ​"Who commands it?" I hastily inquired.
"Do you ask who? Archy, that man was the murderer of my wife."
Though Thomas and I had lived in great intimacy, this was almost the first time, since the death of his wife, that he had mentioned her to me in such plain terms. He had, it is true, now and then made some distant allusions to her; and I recollected that on several occasions before, he had dropped some strange and incoherent hints about an intercourse which he still kept up with her.
The mention of his wife, brought tears into his eyes; — but with his hand, he wiped them hastily away, and soon recovering his former air of calm and steady determination, he again repeated, in the same low but resolute tone, "Archy, I tell you that man dies to-night."
When I called to mind all the circumstances that had attended the death of Thomas's wife, I could not but acknowledge that Mr Martin had been her murderer. I had sympathized with Thomas then, and I sympathized with him now. The murderer was in his power; he believed himself called upon to execute justice upon him; and I could not but acknowledge that his death would be an act of righteous retribution.;
Still, I felt a sort of instinctive horror at the idea of shedding blood; and perhaps too, there still crept about my heart some remains of that slavish fear and servile timidity, which the bolder spirit of Thomas had wholly shaken off. I acknowledged that the life of the overseer was justly forfeit; — but at the same time, I reminded Thomas that Mr Martin had promised, if we would carry him home in safety, to procure our pardon and protect us from punishment.
A scornful smile played about the lip of my comrade while I was speaking. "Yes, Archy," he answered, "pardon and protection! — and a hundred lashes, and a hanging the next day perhaps. No! boy, I want no such pardon; I want no pardon such as they will give. I have been a slave too long, already. I am now free; and when they take me, they are welcome to take my life. Besides, we cannot trust him; — if we wished it, we cannot trust him. ​You know we cannot. They do not think themselves obliged to keep any promises they make us. They will promise any thing to get us in their power; and then, their promises are worthless as rotten straw. My promises are not like theirs; and have I not told you that I have promised it? Yes, I have sworn it; and I now say, once for all, that man must die to-night."
There was a strength and a determination, in his tone and manner, which overpowered me. I could resist it no longer, and I bade him do his pleasure. He loaded the gun, which he had taken from Mr Martin, and which he had held in his hand all the time we had been talking. This done, we returned to the overseer, who was sitting at the foot of the tree to which we had bound him. He looked up anxiously at us as we approached, and inquired if we had determined to go in?
"We have determined," answered Thomas. "We allow you half an hour to prepare for death. Make the most of it. You have many sins to repent of, and the time is short."
It is impossible to describe the look of mingled terror, amazement and incredulity, with which the overseer heard these words. One moment, with a voice of authority, he bade us untie him; the next, he forced a laugh, and affected to treat what Thomas had said, as a mere jest; then, yielding to his fears, he wept like a child, and cried and begged for mercy.
"Have you shown it?" answered Thomas. Did you show it to my poor wife? You murdered her; and for he: life you must answer with your own."
Mr Martin called God to witness, that he was not guilty of this charge. He had punished Thomas's wife, he confessed; but he did only what his duty as an overseer demanded; and it was impossible, he said, that the few cuts he gave her, could have caused her death.
"The few cuts!" cried Thomas. Thank God, Mr Martin, that we do not torture you as you tortured her! Speak no more, or you will but aggravate your sufferings.
fess your crimes! Say your prayers! Do not spend your last moments in adding falsehood to murder!" ​The overseer cowered beneath this energetic reproof. He covered his face with his hands, bent down his head, and passed a few moments in a silence which was only interrupted by an inarticulate sobbing. Perhaps, he was trying to prepare himself to die. But life was too sweet to be surrendered without another effort to save it. He saw that it was useless to appeal to Thomas; but rousing himself once more, he turned to me. He begged me to. remémber the confidence, he had once placed in me, and the favors, which as he said, he had shown me. He promised to purchase us both, and give us our liberty, any thing, every thing, if we would only spare his life!
His tears and piteous lamentations moved me. My head grew dizzy, and I felt such a faintness and heart-sinking, that I was obliged to support myself against a tree. Thomas stood by, with his arms folded and resting on the gun. He made no-answer to the reiterated prayers and promises of the overseer. Indeed he did not appear to notice them. His eyes were fixed, and he seemed lost in thought.
After a considerable interval, during which the unhappy overseer continued to repeat his prayers and lamentations, Thomas roused himself. He stepped back a few paces, and raised the gun. The half hour is out," he said; — "Mr Martin, are you ready?"
"No! oh no! Spare me, oh spare me! — one half hour longer — I have much —"
He did not live to finish the sentence. The gun flashed; the ball penetrated his brain, and he fell dead without a struggle.