master was only anxious to carry out the plans of his father, and was
determined to punish, or, as they pleased to term it, "break me," merely
because I was related to Ben--because I was able to read and write as
well if not better than James Wilson himself.

I was told one day by James that he had hired me to a man in Pontotoc to
work in a livery-stable, and that I must come to his plantation without
delay. When I arrived I was informed that instead of going to Pontotoc I
should go to the railroad then building through Mississippi, and work
for Mr. Leadbitter. I expostulated with my master, and urged him, with
all the pleas and arguments at my command, to allow me to remain on the
plantation or go to Pontotoc, but to no avail. He whipped out his
six-shooter, raving and swearing, and bade me mount one of two mules
instanter or he would shoot me on the spot. I mounted the mule.

My reasons for not wanting to go to the railroad to work were good.
There was plenty to do on the plantation, and there was no good cause
for sending me away. I feared rough usage at the railroad, and rougher
associations. I had by this time become the religious teacher of all the
well-disposed slaves in the neighborhood, and I was so much interested
in my labors that I doomed my great Master's work of too much importance
to be driven away from it without a struggle. I was no coward, and was
always ready to stand out to the end against all opposition, when my
duty as a humble follower of Jesus was in question. Therefore my
reluctance to be driven from my place of usefulness. However, I got on
the mule and started, in company with a colored man who was going with
me to bring the mules back. After traveling four or five miles, and when
at a convenient place, I dismounted from the mules and told my companion
I was going no farther with him, and that if Wilson wanted any one to go
to the railroad to work he might go himself; and I "took to the woods."