infernal villain," and laid hold of a pair of tongs and said he would dash
my brains out if I did not tell him the truth. I then said I thought there
was something in the note that boded no good to me, and I did not intend
to give it to him. He said, "you black vagabond, stay on this plantation
three months longer, and you will be master and I the slave; no wonder you
said you felt first rate when I asked you, but I will sell you to go to
Georgia the first chance I get." Then laying the tongs down he opened the
door and ordered me out. I knew he had on heavy cow-hide boots, and I knew
he would try to assist me in my outward progress, and though expecting it
and went as quick as I could, I was materially assisted by a heavy kick
from my master's foot. This did not end the matter, for when Dick found
out I had caused his being flogged, we had continual fightings for several
months.

When I was fourteen years old my master gave me a flogging, the marks of
which will go with me to my grave, and this was for a crime of which I was
completely innocent. My master's son had taken one of his pistols out, and
by some accident it burst. When enquiry was made about the damaged pistol
William told his father that he had seen me have it; this, of course, I
denied, when master tied me up by my thumbs and gave me 60 lashes, and
also made me confess the crime before he would release me. From this
flogging my back was raw and sore for three months; the shirt that I wore
was made of rough tow linen, and when at work in the fields it would so
chafe the sores that they would break and run, and the hot sun over me
would bake the shirt fast to my back, and for four weeks I wore that
shirt, unable to pull it off, and when I did pull it off it brought with
it much of my flesh, leaving my back perfectly raw. Some time after this
my master found out the truth about the pistol, and when I saw that he did
not offer me any apology for the beating he had given me, and the lie he
had made me confess, I went to him and said--now, master, you see that you