As he turned to leave, my grandmother said something to remind him of his own doings.  He looked back upon her, as if he would have been glad to strike her to the ground.

I had my season of joy and thanksgiving.  It was the first time since my childhood that I had experienced any real happiness.  I heard of the old doctor’s threats, but they no longer had the same power to trouble me.  The darkest cloud that hung over my life had rolled away.  Whatever slavery might do to me, it could not shackle my children.  If I fell a sacrifice, my little ones were saved.  It was well for me that my simple heart believed all that had been promised for their welfare.  It is always better to trust than to doubt.

XX.  New Perils.

The doctor, more exasperated than ever, again tried to revenge himself on my relatives.  He arrested uncle Phillip on the charge of having aided my flight.  He was carried before a court, and swore truly that he knew nothing of my intention to escape, and that he had not seen me since I left my master’s plantation.  The doctor then demanded that he should give bail for five hundred dollars that he would have nothing to do with me.  Several gentlemen offered to be security for him; but Mr. Sands told him he had better go back to jail, and he would see that he came out without giving bail.

The news of his arrest was carried to my grandmother, who conveyed it to Betty.  In the kindness of her heart, she again stowed me away under the floor; and as she walked back and forth, in the performance of her culinary duties, she talked apparently to herself, but with the intention that I should hear what was going on.  I hoped that my uncle’s imprisonment would last but few days; still I was anxious.  I thought it likely Dr. Flint would do his utmost to taunt and insult him, and I was afraid my uncle might lose control of himself, and retort in some way that would be construed into a punishable offence; and I was well aware that in court his word would not be taken against any white man’s.  The search for me was renewed.  Something had excited suspicions that I was in the vicinity.  They searched the house I was in.  I heard their steps and their voices.  At night, when all were asleep, Betty came to release me from my place of confinement.  The fright I had undergone, the constrained posture, and the dampness of the ground, made me ill for several days.  My uncle was soon after taken out of prison; but the movements of all my relatives, and of all our friends, were very closely watched.

We all saw that I could not remain where I was much longer.  I had already staid longer than was intended, and I knew my presence must be a source of perpetual anxiety to my kind benefactress.  During this time, my friends had laid many plans for my escape, but the extreme vigilance of my persecutors made it impossible to carry them into effect.