that I would never be whipped by him or any other overseer on the
plantation, as long as I had life to resist, which was a most malicious
falsehood. What I did tell Hines was, that I would so conduct myself and
so perform my work that he nor any other overseer on the plantation
should never have cause to chastise me.

The falsehood inflamed my master, and in his wrath he told Hines to whip
me for the first offense I might commit, or kill me in the attempt.

Armed with this instruction, Hines was in high glee; yet he dare not
attempt anything without first laying well his plans and making sure of
sufficient force to carry them out. The next morning he charged me to
pick six hundred pounds of cotton and deliver it at the weighing-house
at night, under penalty, for a failure, of one hundred lashes on my bare
back with a rawhide.

This would not have been an extraordinary task in good cotton; but where
we had to work that day the cotton was poor, and in that field the crop
was not more than half a one. However, I worked hard against fate all
day, and prayed to Almighty God to help me in my hour of need, and keep
me steadfast. I knew I was to be punished not for any fault or misdoing,
but simply to gratify a brute in human shape, and my inferior in
intellect, morality, and physical strength. The burden was hard to bear,
yet I prayed for strength to bear it. When called from the field to the
weighing-house I was kept waiting until all the other slaves had their
cotton weighed. When mine was weighed I was told by Hines that I had
only picked four hundred pounds. I verily believed this to be untrue,
and felt convinced that I had picked at least five hundred pounds, for I
was one of the best, if not the best, cotton-pickers in the country; and
I had labored faithfully and rapidly all day, and did not lose a