Part 13 (2/2)
I pursued the sa the north-star on et as far East as the road leading froinia; but as my line of march lay alress; and on the third day, the weather becaain compelled me to lie by, until the return of fair weather
On the second day, after I had stopped this ti, and continued to shed a glorious light during the day; but in the evening, the heavens becaht that folloas so dark, that I did not attempt to travel
This state of the weather continuedhts were succeeded by a brisk wind frohts, in which Iard to roads, forests, or strea many of the latter, none of which were deep, but soled in a thick and deep swarehich, were so tall, and stood so close together, that the interlocking of their boughs, and the deep foliage in which they were clad, preventedthere for several hours, most of the ti in stagnant pools, with deep sli the least appearance of fast land At length, giving up all hope of extricating myself from this abyss of e tussock, and sat down to await the coh land, as soon as the sun should be up The nights were now becoh I did not see any frost in the shere I was in the , I have no doubt that hoar frost was seen in the dry and open country After daylight I found ht No shore was to be seen; and in every direction there was the same deep, dreary, black solitude To add toproved cloudy, and when the sun was up, I could not tell the east froht of the sun, and failing to obtain it, I set out in search of a running streales, with the course of the current, and endeavor to reach the dry ground by this led bushes, briars, and vines, claroith saw grass, for two or three hours, I sat down in despair of finding any guide to conductof meal that I took with one; and the only provisions that I now possessed were a few grains of parched corn, and near a pint of chestnuts that I had picked up under a tree the day before I entered the swamp The chestnut-tree was full of nuts, but I was afraid to throw sticks or to shake the tree, lest hunters or other persons hearing the noise, ht be drawn to the place
About ten o'clock I sat down under a large cypress tree, upon a decaying log of the sarains of parched corn Near me was an open space without trees, but filled ater that seerew in it, except a small quantity near the shore The water was ona each other on the boughs of some trees near me Half pleased with the joyous movements of the little animals, and half covetous of their carcasses, to roast and devour them, I paid no attention to a succession of sounds on s at the edge of the water, until the breaking of a stick near me caused hbors than spring frogs
Aover the mud, with his eyes fixed upon me He was noithin fifteen feet of me, and in a ht, I should have become his prey He could easily have knocked me doith a blow of his tail; and if his jaws had once been closed on a leg or an ared me into the water, spite of any resistance that I could havetoto the other end of the fallen tree on which I sat, and being there out of danger, had an opportunity of viewing theround, elevated his snout, and gave a wistful look, the i slowly round, he retreated to the water, and sank from my vision
I was ator, for had I fallen in with this huge reptile in the night time, I should have had no chance of escape from his tusks
The whole day was spent in the swa for the sun to shi+ne, to enable e of the various points of the heavens The day was succeeded by a night of unbroken darkness; and it was late in the evening of the second day before I saw the sun It being then too late to attempt to extricate ed to pass another night in the lodge that I had forhs of a fallen cypress tree, which elevated ator could not reachof the third day the sun rose beautifully clear, and at sight of him I set off for the East It must have been five miles from the place where I lay to the dry land on the East of the swaer compelled me to make, it o or three o'clock in the afternoon when I reached the shore, after swi the loss of a very valuable part of s On cory as I was, lay down to await the coh the forest in daylight
When night came on, I resumed my journey by the stars, which were visible, andto a plantation The first that I came to was a cotton field; and after rain of any kind on this place, and was compelled to continue on my way
Two or three miles further on I was athered fro , which I still kept, with this corn, I retreated afire, enca it After despatching my meal, I lay down beside the fire and fell into a sound sleep, fro after sunrise; but on rising and looking around e ithin less than a hundred yards of a new house that people were building in the woods, and upon which round, I crawled away through the woods, until being out of sight of the house, I ventured to rise and escape on ht, my fire had died away and emitted no smoke; this circumstance saved me This affairin the woods until night again came on, I continued ht came upon a wide, well beaten road, one end of which led, at this place, a little to the left of the north-star, which I could plainly see Here I deliberated a long time, whether to take this road, or continue my course across the country by the stars; but at last resolved to follow the road, et out of the woods, than froht way In the course of this night I saw but few plantations, but was so fortunate as to see a ground-hog crossing the road before me
This ani
At the approach of daylight, turning away to the right, I gained the top of an eh the woods for soround-hog, which affordedand severe toils According to custo over, I betook myself to sleep, and did not awake until the afternoon; when descending a few rods down the hill, and standing still to take a survey of the woods around me, I saw, at the distance of half aslowly about in the forest, and apparently watching, likeat this man attentively, I saw that he was a black, and that he did not move more than a few rods from the same spot where I first saw him Curiosity ihbor; and descending quite to the foot of the hill, I perceived that he had a covert of boughs of trees, under which I saw hiain fros carefully, I becaro slave, and I detero and speak to hi betrayed by one as badly off in the world as myself
When this man first saw me, at the distance of a hundred yards froitation, and at once seemed disposed to run from me; but when I called to him, and told him not to be afraid, he became more assured, and waited for me to come close to him I found him to be a darkHe had been well bred, and possessed good , and presu place: upon which he informed me that he was a native of Kent county, in the State of Delaware, and had been brought up as a house-servant by his master, who, on his death-bed, had made his will, and directed hie of twenty-five, and that in the meantime he would be hired out as a servant to some person who should treat him well Soon after the death of his ton, who employed him as a waiter in his house for three or four months, and then took him to a small town called Newport, and sold him to a ain sold or transferred to another ht him to South Carolina, and sold him to a cotton planter, hom he had lived more than two years, and had run away three weeks before the ti to Delaware
That being la, he had stopped here and hs and bark of trees, under which he had reo into his camp as he termed it, where he had an old skillet, more than a bushel of potatoes, and several fowls, all of which he said he had purloined frohborhood
This enca to me that its occupant had not been discovered and conveyed back to his reat risk of being taken up by ree iht time
He then proposed to join me, and travel in company with reat want of discretion, though I did not assign these reasons to him
I remained with this man two or three hours, and ate dinner of fowls dressed after his rude fashi+on--Before leaving hi the position he then occupied, but he said he intended to reer, unless I would take hiht it prudent to change my place of abode for the residue of this day, and re the top of the hill that I occupied at least two ht, when returning to the road I had left in the e stream of water just at the break of day As it was too late to pass the river with safety this her, and swaht, at a place where both sides of the water were skirted oods I had several large potatoes that had been given to me by the man at his camp in the woods, and these constitutedof the sun, I took the bearing of the road by the course of the strea to the northwest, instead of the north or northeast, to one of which latter points I wished to directperceived the country in which I noas to be thickly peopled, I re to the road and crossing it, I took once uides, and steered for the northeast
This was a fortunate night for round was high, dry, and free froht I passed several corn fields, with the corn still ree quantities of fine potatoes were dug out of the ground and lay in heaps covered with vines; but ood luck occurred just before day, when passing under a dog-wood tree, and hearing a noise in the branches above st the berries that hung upon the boughs The game was quickly shaken down, and turned out as fat as a well-fed pig, and as heavy as a full-grown raccoon My attention was now turned to searching for a place in which I could secrete myself for the day, and dress my provisions in quietness
This day was clear and beautiful until the afternoon, when the air becaht that folloas dark as pitch, coht with it a terrible storm of rain and wind, that continued with but little interain visible until the third day; nor was there a clear night forall this time I lay in ht with , when I saw them in the fields, that I had taken more than I should have consumed, had not the bad weather compelled me to remain at this spot; but it ell for me, for this time, that I had taken more than I could eat in one or two days
At the end of the cloudy weather, I felt h spirits, although I now began to feel the want of shoes--those which I hen I leftsince been worn out, and my boots rap straps of hickory bark aboutto pieces