Nothing was said to Randall by the overseer, for more than a week.  One morning, however, while the hands were at work in the field, he came into it, accompanied by three friends of his, Thompson, Woodbridge and Jones.  They came up to where Randall was at work, and Cook ordered him to leave his work, and go with them to the barn.  He refused to go; whereupon he was attacked by the overseer and his companions, when he turned upon them, and laid them, one after another, prostrate on the ground.  Woodbridge drew out his pistol, and fired at him, and brought him to the ground by a pistol ball.  The others rushed upon him with their clubs, and beat him over the head and face, until they succeeded in tying him.  He was then taken to the barn, and tied to a beam.  Cook gave him over one hundred lashes with a heavy cowhide, had him washed with salt and water, and left him tied during the day.  The next day he was untied, and taken to a blacksmith’s shop, and had a ball and chain attached to his leg.  He was compelled to labor in the field, and perform the same amount of work that the other hands did.  When his master returned home, he was much pleased to find that Randall had been subdued in his absence.

CHAPTER III.

Soon afterwards, my master removed to the city of St. Louis, and purchased a farm four miles from there, which he placed under the charge of an overseer by the name of Friend Haskell.  He was a regular Yankee from New England.  The Yankees are noted for making the most cruel overseers.

My mother was hired out in the city, and I was also hired out there to Major Freeland, who kept a public house.  He was formerly from Virginia, and was a horse-racer, cock-fighter, gambler, and withal an inveterate drunkard.  There were ten or twelve servants in the house, and when he was present, it was cut and slash—­knock down and drag out.  In his fits of anger, he would take up a chair, and throw it at a servant; and in his more rational moments, when he wished to chastise one, he would tie them up in the smoke-house, and whip them; after which, he would cause a fire to be made of tobacco stems, and smoke them.  This he called “Virginia play.”

I complained to my master of the treatment which I received from Major Freeland; but it made no difference.  He cared nothing about it, so long as he received the money for my labor.  After living with Major Freeland five or six months, I ran away, and went into the woods back of the city; and when night came on, I made my way to my master’s farm, but was afraid to be seen, knowing that if Mr. Haskell, the overseer, should discover me, I should be again carried back to Major Freeland; so I kept in the woods.  One day, while in the woods, I heard the barking and howling of dogs, and in a short time they came so near, that I knew them to be the blood-hounds of Major Benjamin O’Fallon.  He kept five or six, to hunt runaway slaves with.