I went to the jail again the next day, and Mr. Simonds, the keeper, allowed me to see my sister for the last time.  I cannot give a just description of the scene at that parting interview.  Never, never can be erased from my heart the occurrences of that day!  When I entered the room where she was, she was seated in one corner, alone.  There were four other women in the same room, belonging to the same man.  He had purchased them, he said, for his own use.  She was seated with her face towards the door where I entered, yet she did not look up until I walked up to her.  As soon as she observed me, she sprung up, threw her arms around my neck, leaned her head upon my breast, and, without uttering a word, burst into tears.  As soon as she recovered herself sufficiently to speak, she advised me to take mother, and try to get out of slavery.  She said there was no hope for herself,—­that she must live and die a slave.  After giving her some advice, and taking from my finger a ring and placing it upon hers, I bade her farewell forever, and returned to my mother, and then and there made up my mind to leave for Canada as soon as possible.

I had been in the city nearly two days, and as I was to be absent only a week, I thought best to get on my journey as soon as possible.  In conversing with mother, I found her unwilling to make the attempt to reach a land of liberty, but she counselled me to get my liberty if I could.  She said, as all her children were in slavery, she did not wish to leave them.  I could not bear the idea of leaving her among those pirates, when there was a prospect of being able to get away from them.  After much persuasion, I succeeded in inducing her to make the attempt to get away.

The time fixed for our departure was the next night.  I had with me a little money that I had received, from time to time, from gentlemen for whom I had done errands.  I took my scanty means and purchased some dried beef, crackers and cheese, which I carried to mother, who had provided herself with a bag to carry it in.  I occasionally thought of my old master, and of my mission to the city to find a new one.  I waited with the most intense anxiety for the appointed time to leave the land of slavery, in search of a land of liberty.

The time at length arrived, and we left the city just as the clock struck nine.  We proceeded to the upper part of the city, where I had been two or three times during the day, and selected a skiff to carry us across the river.  The boat was not mine, nor did I know to whom it did belong; neither did I care.  The boat was fastened with a small pole, which, with the aid of a rail, I soon loosened from its moorings.  After hunting round and finding a board to use as an oar, I turned to the city, and bidding it a long farewell, pushed off my boat.  The current running very swift, we had not reached the middle of the stream before we were directly opposite the city.