what the effect would be, I heard them ask each other what in the
world it could be, that made them cough and sneeze so. All the while,
I was trembling with fear, expecting every moment I should be called
and asked if I knew any thing about it. After this, for fear they
might find me out in my dangerous experiments upon them, I had to give
them up, for the time being. I was then convinced that running away
was the most effectual way by which a slave could escape cruel
punishment.

As all the instrumentalities which I as a slave, could bring to bear
upon the system, had utterly failed to palliate my sufferings, all
hope and consolation fled. I must be a slave for life, and suffer
under the lash or die. The influence which this had only tended to
make me more unhappy. I resolved that I would be free if running away
could make me so. I had heard that Canada was a land of liberty,
somewhere in the North; and every wave of trouble that rolled across
my breast, caused me to think more and more about Canada, and liberty.
But more especially after having been flogged, I have fled to the
highest hills of the forest, pressing my way to the North for refuge;
but the river Ohio was my limit. To me it was an impassable gulf. I
had no rod wherewith to smite the stream, and thereby divide the
waters. I had no Moses to go before me and lead the way from bondage
to a promised land. Yet I was in a far worse state than Egyptian
bondage; for they had houses and land; I had none; they had oxen and
sheep; I had none; they had a wise counsel, to tell them what to do,
and where to go, and even to go with them; I had none. I was
surrounded by opposition on every hand. My friends were few and far
between. I have often felt when running away as if I had scarcely a
friend on earth.