him to climb a tree.  We came up; Huckstep ordered him down, and secured him upon my horse by tying him to my back.  On reaching home he was stripped entirely naked and lashed up to a tree.  Flincher then volunteered to whip him on one side of his legs, and Goldsby on the other.  I had, in the meantime, been ordered to prepare a wash of salt and pepper, and wash his wounds with it.  The poor fellow groaned, and his flesh shrunk and quivered as the burning solution was applied to it.  This wash, while it adds to the immediate torment of the sufferer, facilitates the cure of the wounded parts.  Huckstep then whipped him from his neck down to his thighs, making the cuts lengthwise of his back.  He was very expert with the whip, and could strike, at any time, within an inch of his mark.  He then gave the whip to me and told me to strike directly across his back.  When I had finished, the miserable sufferer, from his neck to his heel, was covered with blood and bruises.  Goldsby and Flincher now turned to Huckstep, and told him, that I deserved a whipping as much as John did:  that they had known me frequently disobey his orders, and that I was partial to the “Virginia ladies,” and didn’t whip them as I did the men.  They said if I was a driver of theirs they would know what to do with me.  Huckstep agreed with them; and after directing me to go to the house and prepare more of the wash for John’s back, he called after me with an oath, to see to it that I had some for myself, for he meant to give me, at least, two hundred and fifty lashes.  I returned to the house, and scarcely conscious of what I was doing, filled an iron vessel with water, put in the salt and pepper; and placed it over the embers.

As I stood by the fire watching the boiling of the mixture, and reflecting upon the dreadful torture to which I was about to he subjected, the thought of escape flashed upon my mind.  The chance was a desperate one; but I resolved to attempt it.  I ran up stairs, tied my shirt in a handkerchief, and stepped out of the back door of the house, telling Aunt Polly to take care of the wash at the fire until I returned.  The sun was about one hour high, but luckily for me the hands as well as the three overseers, were on the other side of the house.  I kept the house between them and myself, and ran as fast as I could for the woods.  On reaching them I found myself obliged to proceed slowly as there was a thick undergrowth of cane and reeds.  Night came on.  I straggled forward by a dim star-light, amidst vines and reed beds.  About midnight the horizon began to be overcast; and the darkness increased until in the thick forest, I could scarcely see a yard before me.  Fearing that I might lose my way and wander towards the plantation, instead of from it, I resolved to wait until day.  I laid down upon a little hillock, and fell asleep.