the driver not to strike him another blow.  We untied him, and he went to work, and continued faithful all the time he was with me.  This one was not a sample, however—­many of them have such exalted views of freedom that it is hard work for the masters to whip them into brutes, that is to subdue their noble spirits.  The negroes being put under my care, did not prevent the masters from whipping them when they pleased.  But they never whipped much in my presence.  This work was usually left until I had dismissed the hands.  On the plantations, the masters chose to have the slaves whipped in the presence of all the hands, to strike them with terror.

VI.  RUNAWAYS

Numbers of poor slaves run away from their masters; some of whom doubtless perish in the swamps and other secret places, rather than return back again to their masters; others stay away until they almost famish with hunger, and then return home rather than die, while others who abscond are caught by the negro-hunters, in various ways.  Sometimes the master will hire some of his most trusty negroes to secure any stray negroes, who come on to their plantations, for many come at night to beg food of their friends on the plantations.  The slaves assist one another usually when they can, and not be found out in it.  The master can now and then, however, get some of his hands to betray the runaways.  Some obtain their living in hunting after lost slaves.  The most common way is to train up young dogs to follow them.  This can easily be done by obliging a slave to go out into the woods, and climb a tree, and then put the young dog on his track, and with a little assistance he can be taught to follow him to the tree, and when found, of course the dog would bark at such game as a poor negro on a tree.  There was a man living in Savannah when I was there, who kept a large number of dogs for no other purpose than to hunt runaway negroes.  And he always had enough of this work to do, for hundreds of runaways are never found, but could he get news soon after one had fled, he was almost sure to catch him.  And this fear of the dogs restrains multitudes from running off.

When he went out on a hunting excursion, to be gone several days, he took several persons with him, armed generally with rifles and followed by the dogs.  The dogs were as true to the track of a negro, if one had passed recently, as a hound is to the track of a fox when he has found it.  When the dogs draw near to their game, the slave must turn and fight them or climb a tree.  If the latter, the dogs will stay and bark until the pursuer come.  The blacks frequently deceive the dogs by crossing and recrossing the creeks.  Should the hunters who have no dogs, start a slave from his hiding place, and the slave not stop at the hunter’s call, he will shoot at him, as soon as he would at a deer.  Some masters advertise so much for a runaway slave, dead or alive.  It undoubtedly gives such more