Slave Life in Georgia - African American History

Slave Life in Georgia 40
and Ohio. He said he would number each, so that I might not mistake one for
the other, and he advised me to throw them away, one by one, after they had
served my turn. At length I agreed to go home with him. I remained there until
night. His name was Posey, I afterwards learned. He went away in the early part
of the evening to fetch the passes, as he said; but as the time wore on without his
making his appearance, I began to get uncomfortable. I was pondering what I
should do, when he suddenly came in, with five other men having guns. Then I
knew I had been betrayed, and must give up.
The first thing Posey did was to bid me cross my hands before me. I did so. He
then took a log chain and fastened it round my leg. When he had me fast, he
began to question me in his old rough way.
"Who do you belong to, Sir?" he said.
I told him that De Cator Stevens was my master.
"Where does he live?" he asked then.
"In Georgia, Sir," I answered.
"Then what are you doing here?" was his next question.
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"I got lost, Sir," I replied.
"Oh! You got lost, did you?" he said. "And pray, Sir, did you come here on
purpose to get lost?"
"No, Sir," I answered. "I got lost before I got here. I got lost before I saw you."
They consulted together a few minutes, and then one of them said they would
put me in a safe place where I should not "get lost very soon," and where the
dogs could not catch me. We all set out together then, and I soon found I was
going to be taken to the jail. I now began to consider whether I might not get out
of their hands if I tried, for my mind was quite made up not to give up the hope
of effecting my escape, so long as I saw there remained ever so slight a chance
in my favour. I therefore began to talk with my captors, one of whom was
named Wiggins, and another Arres. I told them I thought they were going to do
a very foolish thing by taking me to jail. If they put me there, and sent for my
master, he would pay them for catching me, but he would have to give the jailer
24.03.2006