have been preferable to the privation and hunger from which I was
suffering. But I could make no one hear, at least no one paid any
attention to my screams, if they did hear. In the evening, however, one
of the deck hands came in with a lantern to look around and see
everything was all right. I saw the light and followed him out, but I
had been out of my hiding only a short time when I was discovered by a
man who took me up stairs to the captain. It was an effort for me to
walk up stairs, as I was weak and faint, having neither eaten nor drank
anything for three days. This boat was crowded with passengers, and it
was soon a scene of confusion. I was placed in the pilot's room for
safety, until we arrived at a small town in Kentucky called Monroe. I
was put off here to be kept until the packet came back from Cincinnati.
Then I was carried back to Memphis, arriving about one o'clock at night,
and, for safe keeping, was put into what was called the calaboose. This
was especially for the keeping of slaves who had run away and been
caught. Word was sent to Boss of my capture; and the next morning
Thomas Bland, a fellow servant of mine, was sent to take me home. I can
not tell how I felt, for the only thought that came to me was that I
should get killed. The madam met us as we drove into the yard. "Ah!" she
said to me, "you put up at the wrong hotel, sir." I was taken to the
barn where stocks had been prepared, beside which were a cowhide and a
pail of salt water, all prepared for me. It was terrible, but there was
no escape. I was fastened in the stocks, my clothing removed, and the
whipping began. Boss whipped me a while, then he sat down and read his
paper, after which the whipping was resumed. This continued for two
hours. Fastened as I was in the stocks, I could only stand and take lash
after lash, as long as he desired, the terrible rawhide cutting into my
flesh at every stroke. Then he used peach tree switches, which cracked
the flesh so the blood oozed out. After this came the paddle, two and a
half feet long and three inches wide. Salt and water was at once applied