or take her to New Orleans himself.  After being in jail about one week, master sent a man to take me out of jail, and send me home.  I was taken out and carried home, and the old man was well enough to sit up.  He had me brought into the room where he was, and as I entered, he asked me where I had been?  I told I had acted according to his orders.  He had told me to look for a master, and I had been to look for one.  He answered that he did not tell me to go to Canada to look for a master.  I told him that as I had served him faithfully, and had been the means of putting a number of hundreds of dollars into his pocket, I thought I had a right to my liberty.  He said he had promised my father that I should not be sold to supply the New Orleans market, or he would sell me to a negro-trader.

I was ordered to go into the field to work, and was closely watched by the overseer during the day, and locked up at night.  The overseer gave me a severe whipping on the second day that I was in the field.  I had been at home but a short time, when master was able to ride to the city; and on his return, he informed me that he had sold me to Samuel Willi, a merchant tailor.  I knew Mr. Willi.  I had lived with him three or four months some years before, when he hired me of my master.

Mr. Willi was not considered by his servants as a very bad man, nor was he the best of masters.  I went to my new home, and found my new mistress very glad to see me.  Mr. Willi owned two servants before he purchased me,—­Robert and Charlotte.  Robert was an excellent white-washer, and hired his time from his master, paying him one dollar per day, besides taking care of himself.  He was known in the city by the name of Bob Music.  Charlotte was an old woman, who attended to the cooking, washing, &c.  Mr. Willi was not a wealthy man, and did not feel able to keep many servants around his house; so he soon decided to hire me out, and as I had been accustomed to service in steamboats, he gave me the privilege of finding such employment.

I soon secured a situation on board the steamer Otto, Capt.  J.B.  Hill, which sailed from St. Louis to Independence, Missouri.  My former master, Dr. Young, did not let Mr. Willi know that I had run away, or he would not have permitted me to go on board a steamboat.  The boat was not quite ready to commence running, and therefore I had to remain with Mr. Willi.  But during this time, I had to undergo a trial, for which I was entirely unprepared.  My mother, who had been in jail since her return until the present time, was now about being carried to New Orleans, to die on a cotton, sugar, or rice plantation!

I had been several times to the jail, but could obtain no interview with her.  I ascertained, however, the time the boat in which she was to embark would sail, and as I had not seen mother since her being thrown into prison, I felt anxious for the hour of sailing to come.  At last, the day arrived when I was to see her for the first time after our painful separation, and, for aught that I knew, for the last time in this world!