When I entered the vessel the captain came forward to meet me.  He was an elderly man, with a pleasant countenance.  He showed me to a little box of a cabin, where sat my friend Fanny.  She started as if she had seen a spectre.  She gazed on me in utter astonishment, and exclaimed, “Linda, can this be you? or is it your ghost?” When we were locked in each other’s arms, my overwrought feelings could no longer be restrained.  My sobs reached the ears of the captain, who came and very kindly reminded us, that for his safety, as well as our own, it would be prudent for us not to attract any attention.  He said that when there was a sail in sight he wished us to keep below; but at other times, he had no objection to our being on deck.  He assured us that he would keep a good lookout, and if we acted prudently, he thought we should be in no danger.  He had represented us as women going to meet our husbands in ——.  We thanked him, and promised to observe carefully all the directions he gave us.

Fanny and I now talked by ourselves, low and quietly, in our little cabin.  She told me of the suffering she had gone through in making her escape, and of her terrors while she was concealed in her mother’s house.  Above all, she dwelt on the agony of separation from all her children on that dreadful auction day.  She could scarcely credit me, when I told her of the place where I had passed nearly seven years.  “We have the same sorrows,” said I.  “No,” replied she, “you are going to see your children soon, and there is no hope that I shall ever even hear from mine.”

The vessel was soon under way, but we made slow progress.  The wind was against us, I should not have cared for this, if we had been out of sight of the town; but until there were miles of water between us and our enemies, we were filled with constant apprehensions that the constables would come on board.  Neither could I feel quite at ease with the captain and his men.  I was an entire stranger to that class of people, and I had heard that sailors were rough, and sometimes cruel.  We were so completely in their power, that if they were bad men, our situation would be dreadful.  Now that the captain was paid for our passage, might he not be tempted to make more money by giving us up to those who claimed us as property?  I was naturally of a confiding disposition, but slavery had made me suspicious of every body.  Fanny did not share my distrust of the captain or his men.  She said she was afraid at first, but she had been on board three days while the vessel lay in the dock, and nobody had betrayed her, or treated her otherwise than kindly.