Hetty, whom my master took in privateering from another vessel, and made
his slave. She was the most active woman I ever saw, and she was tasked to
her utmost. A few minutes after my arrival she came in from milking the
cows, and put the sweet-potatoes on for supper. She then fetched home the
sheep, and penned them in the fold; drove home the cattle, and staked them
about the pond side;[4] fed and rubbed down my master's horse, and gave
the hog and the fed cow[5] their suppers; prepared the beds, and undressed
the children, and laid them to sleep. I liked to look at her and watch all
her doings, for hers was the only friendly face I had as yet seen, and I
felt glad that she was there. She gave me my supper of potatoes and milk,
and a blanket to sleep upon, which she spread for me in the passage before
the door of Mrs. I----'s chamber.

[Footnote 4: The cattle on a small plantation in Bermuda are, it seems,
often thus staked or tethered, both night and day, in situations where
grass abounds.]

[Footnote 5: A cow fed for slaughter.]

I got a sad fright, that night. I was just going to sleep, when I heard a
noise in my mistress's room; and she presently called out to inquire if
some work was finished that she had ordered Hetty to do. "No, Ma'am, not
yet," was Hetty's answer from below. On hearing this, my master started up
from his bed, and just as he was, in his shirt, ran down stairs with a
long cow-skin[6] in his hand. I heard immediately after, the cracking of
the thong, and the house rang to the shrieks of poor Hetty, who kept
crying out, "Oh, Massa! Massa! me dead. Massa! have mercy upon me--don't
kill me outright."--This was a sad beginning for me. I sat up upon my
blanket, trembling with terror, like a frightened hound, and thinking that
my turn would come next. At length the house became still, and I forgot