I slept heavily when Uncle Moses had gone, making up for my wakefulness the night before; and next day I was more composed in mind, and readier to take thought.  Ignorant as I was of the plantation and the country round, I saw that to escape in the night without a guide would be to court disaster, and a timorous guide like Uncle Moses, with his fear of the bugaboos, might lead me to my undoing.  Therefore my flight must be contrived by day.  The door of my chamber was opened three times, when the guards brought me food, and ’twas possible that, with the negro making a diversion outside, I might seize such an occasion to fell one of the men and evade the other.  But this plan scarce promised success, for the house was situate in the sugar plantation, and doubtless many negroes would be at work, and the overseer would be at hand, with possibly others of the piratical dogs whom Vetch had brought up from the coast.

There was one period of the day, however, when few people, if any, would be astir, and that was the middle part from eleven till about three, when work ceased, everybody seeking shelter from the heat.  I could reckon on my guards being sleepy and sluggish then; and, moreover, seeing that during several days I had given them no trouble, they would be quite unprepared for any violent outbreak.  True, my door was always locked, but looking at it, I did not doubt that if I threw myself upon it with all my strength it would give way.  And if Uncle Moses had the courage at the same time to tackle the men, there was a chance that we might seize their arms and make good our escape before they had recovered from their surprise.  At any rate, I saw nothing better.

Being resolved on this first step, I had to consider the next.  What should I do if I escaped?  Should I endeavor to make my way to Spanish Town and return with a force of tars, or of soldiers from Collingwood’s regiment then in garrison, sufficient to deal with Vetch’s desperadoes?  This idea I soon dismissed.  I felt that time was of the greatest moment.  I did not know the exact date of Mistress Lucy’s coming of age, but ’twas very clear that it was not far distant; it might be, indeed, within a few days, and I had such a belief in Vetch’s villainy that I feared he might force Lucy into a marriage with Cludde the very moment she was free from the authority of the Chancery Court.  Cludde had arrived, I remembered, and was perhaps still at the house awaiting the day of Lucy’s enfranchisement, and I clenched my fists at the thought.

It would take me a full day on a swift horse to reach Spanish Town, even if I rode at peril of sunstroke through the hot hours, and another day, perhaps two or three, to return with assistance; and it was in the highest degree unlikely, first that I should be able to get a horse, and if I did, to ride the whole length of the estate without being intercepted.  And further, supposing all happened as favorably as I could wish, at the news of my flight Vetch would without question carry off Mistress Lucy to the brig that lay on the coast, and would sail to England or elsewhere, secure in the knowledge that I could not pursue him.